MUMBAI: The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) on Tuesday said it successfully conducted an important test on main parachutes for the Gaganyaan Crew Module (GCM) at the Babina Field Firing Range in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh on November 3.
The Gaganyaan mission, India’s first human spaceflight programme, aims to send a three-member crew on a three-day mission to space and return them safely to Earth. For the mission, Isro is developing a human-rated launch vehicle, an orbital module, and a crew escape system. The programme includes prior unmanned missions to test critical systems before the first manned flight.
The test was part of the ongoing series of Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT) for the qualification of the parachute system for the Gaganyaan mission.
{{/usCountry}}The test was part of the ongoing series of Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Tests (IMAT) for the qualification of the parachute system for the Gaganyaan mission.
{{/usCountry}}A simulated mass equivalent to the Crew Module was dropped from an altitude of 2.5km using the Indian Air Force’s (IAF) IL-76 aircraft. “The parachute system deployed as planned and the sequence was executed flawlessly, and the test article achieved a stable descent and soft landing, validating the robustness of the parachute design,” Isro said.
In August, the space agency accomplished the first Integrated Air Drop Test for the mission at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. During this test, the simulated crew module with the parachute system was released from an altitude of about 3km using IAF’s Chinook heavy-lift helicopter. The test demonstrated the validation of the end-to-end performance of the critical parachute-based deceleration system of GCM.
Explaining the November 3 test, the Isro statement said the GCM parachute system comprises 10 parachutes of four types.
“The descent sequence begins with two apex cover separation parachutes that remove the protective cover of the parachute compartment, followed by two drogue parachutes that stabilize and decelerate the module. Upon release of the drogues, three pilot parachutes are deployed to extract three main parachutes, which further slow down the Crew Module to ensure a safe touchdown,” said Isro. “The system is designed with redundancy—two of the three main parachutes are sufficient to achieve a safe landing.”
Using a pyro device, the main parachutes open partially, a process known as reefing, and then open fully after a predetermined period of time, referred to as disreefing. This step-by-step process is known as reefed inflation.
An important aspect of the test was the successful validation of the main parachutes under possible extreme scenarios of delay in the disreefing between the two main parachutes.
“The test evaluated the system’s structural integrity and load distribution under asymmetric disreefing conditions—one of the most critical load scenarios expected during actual mission descent,” the Isro statement said.
Isro’s Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment, DRDO, IAF and the Indian Army collaborated in the test.