Gaganyaan Mission: Significance of Gaganyaan Mission

What is Gaganyaan Mission?

The Gaganyaan Mission is an indigenous mission that would take Indian astronauts to space. The word ‘Gaganyaan’ is derived from Sanskrit, which means Sky Vehicle. The Gaganyaan Mission envisages the demonstration of human spaceflight to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) in the short term and paving the foundation for the Indian human space exploration program shortly.

>>Gaganyaan Mission UPSC

The Government approved two unmanned missions and one manned mission of India as a part of this Gaganyaan program. This program will make India the fourth nation to launch a manned spaceflight mission after the US, Russia, and China.

Objectives of Gaganyaan Mission

The Gaganyaan Mission’s principal goal is to demonstrate the technology. The program will rely on Indian companies for 60-70 percent of its components and value-added services.

Other goals include the following:

• To Boost the Science and Technology and scientific temper of the country.
• Other Institutes, academia, and industry will also be involved in these national programs.
• Encourage the youth to take on challenges in the field of science and technology.
• Developed technology for the betterment of society.
• Further Human Resource Development.
• Make a path to international collaboration and policies.

Significance of Gaganyaan Mission

The significance of the Gaganyaan Mission is as follows:

• Enhanced the capability of the country in developing technology for undertaking scientific human space exploration.
• The Gaganyaan Mission will help in the progress of affordable human and robotic programs to explore the solar system or beyond the solar system.
• In advanced Science and Research and Development activities, there is enough scope for the generation of employment and human resource development.
• This program is seen as a unique opportunity to excite and inspire the youth and leads many students toward Science and Technology careers that encourage Knowledge, Innovation, and Creativity.
• Through the sharing of the objectives and challenges, this program will strengthen global security and international partnership.
• Build a broad framework for expansive academia.

ISRO’s Gaganyaan Mission – Technical Details

There are some new technologies that are essential for Gaganyaan Mission as follows-

• Human-related launch vehicle.
• Habitable Orbital Module.
• Life Support System.
• Crew escape system.
• Crew selection and activities related to training and management of the crew.

There are two parts of the Gaganyaan Orbital Module that is, The Crew Module and the Service Module, which weigh about 8000 kilograms.

The Crew Module is a habitat of astronauts and a double-walled system. To protect astronauts during the intense aerodynamic heating during the flight Crew Module has an ablative thermal protection system (TPS).

The Orbital Module (OM) will be launched by a three-stage heavy lift launch vehicle developed by ISRO and orbit with a velocity of about 7800 meters per second.

The payload will consist of the following:

• To power the service module, there are two liquid-propellant engines.
• A human-carrying spacecraft is The Crew Module.
• It also has a rare emergency and mission abort capability.

Gaganyaan Mission & Vyommitra

Before sending a manned mission, two unmanned missions will also be sent as a prototype for the technology demonstration, safety, and reliability verification to study the system’s performance before a crewed flight. The first unmanned mission will be sent at the beginning of 2022, following which the second unmanned mission, which will carry a robot named ‘VYOMMITRA’, will then be followed by a manned mission. The robot will mimic the space crew activity set for the human flight mission to assess all the possible challenges before the final mission.

ISRO’s Gaganyaan Mission Collaboration

Once the Prime Minister of India issued a statement that said that one day, the youth of India would land in space with an Indian vehicle by 2022, where ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) will carry out the overall program coordination, Systems engineering, and implementation.

• Some Indian agencies collaborating with the Indian Space Research Organisation in the Gaganyaan Mission are-
• Indian Armed Force
• Defense Research and Development Organization
• Indian Maritime Agencies – Indian Navy, Indian Coast Guard, Shipping Corporation of India, National Institute of Ocean Technology.
• Indian Meteorological Department
• CSIR Labs
• Academic Institutes
• Industry Partners

Challenges Faced by Gaganyaan Mission

Gaganyaan Mission is one of the major missions of India. But, it has its challenges as well. These include:

• To ensure an adequate supply of oxygen and comfortable temperature and humidity throughout the mission, the Gaganyaan has to create an atmosphere like earth inside a small volume.
• There is a negative impact on physical bodies in transition from one gravity field to another gravity field that affects the coordination of hand-eye and head-eye.
• One may suffer from depression, fatigue, and sleep disorder due to isolation during Gaganyaan Mission.
• Astronauts receive more than ten times the radiation in the Space Station as compared to what people receive on the earth, which increases the risk of cancer and it can also cause acute or chronic problems to the Central Nervous System.
• Due to the increasing hazard of the space debris in the Low Earth Orbits, there is a possibility of depressurization of the crew module cabin in case of contact with tiny debris.
• The probability of the loss of life is like sitting on an exploding bomb while traveling in a rocket which will push your speed to 29000 km per hour from zero kilometers per hour in less than a half-hour.

Gaganyaan Mission: Latest News

Recently Indian Space Research Organisation plans to launch Gaganyaan before the 75th year of India’s Independence in 2022. Other related missions are the following-

1. Aditya-L1

• This is the first mission to study the atmosphere of the sun, designated by the Indian Space Research Organisation.
• To place the Aditya satellite, the Indian Space Research Organisation has selected the point between the Earth and the Sun known as Lagrangian 1 or L1.
• It is planned to launch by the middle of 2022.

2. Shukrayaan-1

• It is supposed to be launched either in 2024 or 2026.
• It is a proposed Orbiter to the brightest planet of our solar system, Venus.

3. Chandrayaan 3

• It may be launched during the third quarter of 2022 with the aim of a soft landing on the south pole of the lunar surface.
• Chandrayaan 3 will not carry an orbiter, unlike its predecessor. but to study the lunar surface, it includes a Rover and a Lander.

4. NISAR (NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar)

• It is expected to be launched in 2023, which can help to manage the natural resources in a better way by studying the hazards and global environmental changes.

Gaganyaan Mission UPSC

Gaganyaan Mission is an important topic in Science And Technology. It is covered in the static portion of the UPSC Exam and has got great relevance in UPSC Prelims Exam. Candidates preparing for the upcoming UPSC exam must go through this article to learn important facts and information on Gaganyaan Mission. In addition, they must follow the NCERT Books for UPSC, other UPSC Books, or Science And Technology Books for UPSC.

Gaganyaan Mission UPSC Question

Question: Which of the following is correct regarding the Gaganyaan Mission?

1. Gaganyaan is the first human space mission of India.
2. Expected to be launched by 2023.

Choose the correct option from the codes given below-

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 Nor 2

Answer: A

Other Important UPSC Notes
Child Labour Prohibition and Regulation Act	Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929
Chola Dynasty	Difference Between Axis and Central Powers
Difference Between Bilateral and Multilateral Trade	Internal Security
Types of Majority in Indian Parliament	Child Protection Act In India
Crown Rule in India	Code of Criminal Procedure