ISRO’s Sept. 9 Engine Test Checked a Module Intended for Gaganyaan

ISRO says a September 9 engine acceptance test for the LVM3 M7 mission also demonstrated a liquid-oxygen tank pressurization module intended for Gaganyaan C32 stages. The test was for M7, a separate mission, rather than a Gaganyaan flight.

For the astronauts who would eventually fly on Gaganyaan, that hardware check is one part of a broader safety plan. ISRO’s mission description calls for a human-rated rocket, a crew-escape system, redundant spacecraft avionics and uncrewed flights to verify safety and reliability before a crewed mission.

Testing the route home

ISRO describes the crew-escape system as protection during launch-pad or ascent emergencies. Other tests address descent and recovery. On April 10, the agency reported deploying ten parachutes and recovering a simulated crew module in its second integrated air-drop test.

An integrated main-parachute air-drop test followed on July 7. In a July 12 update, ISRO also reported crew-module checks that included flotation-system inflation and structural testing.

Those results concern specific components and recovery functions. ISRO’s stated sequence calls for uncrewed flights to verify the wider system before astronauts board Gaganyaan; none of the individual tests amounts to clearance for a crewed flight.