ISRO May Launch First Crewed Spaceflight In 2023 Despite Challenges Posed By Covid-19 Pandemic
Only three
countries have sent humans into space as of now—the United States, Russia and
China. But now, a fourth one is on the way. It is India’s space exploration
agency, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Even though
the list of leading countries with the highest government expenditure on space
programs doesn’t include India, ISRO has achieved incredible success over the
years. From hauling elements of the first rocket on a bicycle to discovering
water on the Moon, the Indian space agency has come a long way. Now, it expects
that achieving future goals can begin with Gaganyaan (sky-vehicle), which is
ISRO’s first crewed mission programme. But Gaganyaan’s timeline is still
unclear because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
ISRO’s
first four would-be space travellers recently spent almost a year in Russia
getting acquainted with old Soyuz capsules and replicating spaceflight
conditions in centrifuges and pressure chambers. They have now returned to
India, where they will start working on the Gaganyaan capsule.
While India
and France have a long history of space collaboration, in April this year, ISRO
announced a partnership with its French equivalent to ensure the health of its
astronauts in space. France has a wealth of space medicine expertise that it
has provided to projects such as the International Space Station (ISS) in the
past.
The Indian
space agency believes that such an international alliance would aid in the
development of the technologies required to send humans into space in the long
run. For example, ISRO has showcased Indian space food as well as a humanoid
robot for uncrewed spaceflights. Mukund Kadursrinivas Rao, who is the chief
executive of the Centre for Spatial Analytics and Advanced GIS in Bangalore,
India, told Space.com that ISRO has tested other crucial aspects of Gaganyaan,
such as its launch abort and re-entry systems, closer to home in India.
But the
coronavirus pandemic had put challenges in front of ISRO. The agency had
committed some of its resources to assist the country’s overburdened healthcare
system during the deadly second wave of the pandemic, such as providing liquid
oxygen and medical equipment.
It also
halted the regular work at the space agency as many employees had to stay at
home. According to Rao, it disrupted key processes like building and testing
spacecraft that need human involvement. He added that “there are also many
industries contributing to the missions and they too would be affected”.
The
Gaganyaan program was supposed to start with two uncrewed test launches, the
first of which was scheduled for December 2020, but the deadline has passed.
Now it appears that the first launch would take place at the end of 2021, with
the second following in 2022. The third mission would then launch ISRO’s first
spacefarers into orbit. As per reports, India’s human-crewed space mission
would not happen before 2023.
However,
ISRO’s ground stations are primarily located in the Indian Ocean and Southeast
Asia. The space agency plans to launch a pair of data-relay satellites to
connect the rest of the world. According to Rao, such spacecraft will be
necessary even for uncrewed missions.
Apart from
the Gaganyaan project, ISRO’s next moon mission has also faced a delay. The
Chandrayaan-3, which aims to land a rover on the Moon after its last
unsuccessful attempt in September 2019, was set to launch later in 2021. But
now, it appears to have slipped into 2022.
However,
the pandemic also affected the American space agency NASA which anticipated
that the Covid-19 scenario would cost it up to $3 billion. A report from the
NASA Office of Inspector General stated that “the agency will not be able to
quantify the complete impact of the pandemic on its programs and projects until
after the Covid-19 emergency has subsided. In addition to cost impact, launch
dates for several NASA missions have been delayed between 1 and 10 months”.
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