ISRO chairman K Sivan on Saturday called the Human Spaceflight Program (HSP) the organisation’s ‘Dream’ project

The space agency recently carried out a ‘pad abort test’ of experimental space crew capsule, the first in a series of tests to qualify a Crew Escape System which is a critical technology relevant for human spaceflight. With this test, the organisation inched a step closer to its ambitious manned mission.

Delivering the 11th Air Chief Marshal LM Katre memorial lecture at the HAL Convention Centre, Sivan said: “We are developing critical technologies and demonstrating them. The project is still in the preliminary stage of research and development.

“ISRO is preparing a report which is likely to be completed in a month. We will conduct a review process along with our stakeholders like the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and others soon after that,” he said.

He also talked about the strategy that needs to be worked to conduct the next test and the kind of vehicle needs to be used for this.

To a question as to why the HSP was in cold storage all these years, he said: “The first report of the project was made in 2004. Over the years, there had been an immense change in perceptions and ideas. Meanwhile, technology had also seen a major revision over the time.”

He also said the organisation was working on reusable launch vehicle technology, Scramjet and Ramjet engine technology, and added that it was also finding ways to utilise space resources to generate power.