Science & TechSpace
ISRO clears Gaganyaan module separation tests ahead of uncrewed G1 flight
Engineers at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre simulated the moment the crew capsule breaks away from its service module before re-entry, and its systems came through the shock intact.
Key points
- ISRO has completed a series of crew module and service module separation tests for Gaganyaan.
- The tests checked that the capsule's avionics and heat shields survive the pyrotechnic shock of separation.
- The uncrewed G1 flight, carrying the robot Vyommitra, is targeted for 2026 but has no date yet.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has completed a series of separation tests on the two halves of the Gaganyaan orbital module, clearing one of the last ground checks before the first uncrewed flight of India’s human spaceflight programme.
ISRO said on Friday that the tests, run at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvananthapuram, validated “the design adequacy of the separation system” and showed that key systems inside the crew capsule could survive the shock of the event.
The moment being tested
The Gaganyaan orbital module is made of two parts. The crew module carries the astronauts, and the service module beneath it provides power and propulsion. They are joined by a separation system and by umbilical lines that carry electrical and fluid services between them, and they fly as one unit until the end of the orbital phase.
Before re-entry, the crew module has to break away cleanly. That happens through a tightly sequenced chain of pyrotechnic and jettison events, small explosive charges that cut the connections in a fraction of a second.
VSSC built a heavily instrumented test rig that reproduced the full crew and service module stack. Engineers then fired the separation sequence, including severing several umbilical connections, and checked what the shock did to the capsule. ISRO said the avionics and inertial navigation systems, the aft and conical heat shields, the deployable umbilical shield and the pyrotechnic devices of the uprighting and thermal and humidity control systems all came through.
Where G1 stands
The results are meant to build confidence for G1, the first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission, which ISRO says is targeted for launch in 2026. It will carry Vyommitra, a half-humanoid robot that will stand in for a crew. No launch date has been announced.
The flight has slipped several times. It was first planned for December 2020 and later for December 2025. ISRO Chairman V Narayanan said in June that it was expected in the last quarter of this year, and repeated in September that it would fly within the year.
The test campaign has moved steadily this year. In April the G1 crew module was dropped from an aircraft to test its parachute descent, and ISRO has also qualified the uprighting system that turns the capsule upright after splashdown and the mechanisms that connect and disconnect the umbilicals. India’s first crewed flight is targeted for 2027.