India announced plans to launch Indian astronauts into space with Gaganyaan mission

Space is not easy and it punishes the simplest of mistakes. Scientists at ISRO know this and are working on a system that will save Indian astronauts in case the upcoming mission to send Indians to space fails in the moments after launch

ISRO is set to conduct what is known as a 'pad abort test'. It will trial an indigenously developed system tasked to save astronauts. A crew module look-alike has been developed for the test mission.

It was on April 3, 1984, when Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma soared into the skies to make history on-board a Russian Soyuz T-11 spacecraft. Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian to go into space.

34 years later, India announced plans to launch Indian astronauts into space from the country on an indigenous spacecraft. We are now closer to that dream than ever.

As the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) races towards that history-making launch, engineers at the space agency are leaving no stones unturned to ensure all remains well in case things go awry. The engineers and scientists have been prepping for what might happen if the mission goes south.

What happens if the rocket develops a glitch? What happens if the Gaganyaan mission fails?

They know that space is not easy and it does not cooperate. The Gaganyaan mission is being led by ISRO to send humans into space from India

And so, ISRO is set to conduct what is known as a 'pad abort test' that will trial an indigenously developed system tasked to save astronauts in case of an emergency while they are strapped in the spacecraft on the pad or in the moments after lift-off. The system is called the Crew Escape System (CES).

A crew module look-alike has been developed by the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) for the test. The module will simulate the conditions the same as the actual crew module that will have Indian astronauts in the future.

What Does Abort Mean In Spaceflight?

The abort and crew escape system works on the same principle as an ejection seat in a fighter jet that is aimed at saving the lives of the pilots in case of anomalies mid-flight. However, when it comes to crew missions strapped on a rocket, it takes a bit more precision and a lot more science.

The Crew Escape System is designed to work at different altitudes automatically if the computer smells a malfunction or a snag in the initial moments after the lift-off before the rocket stages separate. The abort system is not a novel concept and has been used across the world by space agencies launching humans into space.

The escape system is designed in a way that it fires a series of thrusters (solid rockets) on the module separating it from the rocket, which is burning propellant and pitches the module in a direction away from it at a rapid pace. The module then splashes down in the sea under parachutes.

India's Tryst With An Escape System

ISRO has long been involved in developing a home-grown system that caters to our requirements and parameters. The Indian space agency conducted the first crew escape system test in 2018 and showed the ability of the technology to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.

ISRO launched a simulated crew module with a mass of 12.6 tons to an altitude of 2.7 kilometers from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota. In the 259 seconds that followed the launch, the system jettisoned away from the rocket and arced out over the Bay of Bengal, and floated back to Earth under its parachutes about 2.9 km from Sriharikota, where three recovery boats were waiting to retrieve it.
The Crew Escape System was conducted in 2018.

A senior scientist at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre said that in the last five years since the test the system has further been perfected and "we are planning to experiment crew escape system functioning from a thrusting vehicle at an altitude."

How Does The Crew Escape System Work?

The Crew Escape System comprises three different categories of motors or thrusters that are embedded in the Crew Module that function at different altitudes. Their main role is to push the astronauts away from the rocket as fast as they can. In the case of ISRO's system, they are trying to achieve a distance of at least two kilometers within a couple of seconds.

The first motor is the Low Altitude Escape Motor (LEM), which will fire between the altitude of 0-17 kilometers, enabling mission-abort during the initial phase of flight. It will provide the required thrust to take away the Crew Module from the launch vehicle. The second is the High-Altitude Escape Motor (HEM), which will be fired between the altitudes of 17-80 kilometers in case of a snag with the launch, and the third is the Crew Escape System Jettisoning Motor (CJM), which will be activated above 80 kilometers to jettison the crew escape system as further exigency in the crew module will be managed by launch vehicle itself.


Once the Crew Module separates after these motors are fired, a pitch control motor will be fired to put the module with astronauts in the direction of the sea. The pitch control motor generally guides the orientation of the module to ensure that the spacecraft is not upside down or tilting in the wrong way when the parachutes deploy.

What Will ISRO Do In The Pad Abort Test?

ISRO officials said that during the pad abort test, likely in May this year, a special launch vehicle will be fired with the simulated crew module on top. The vehicle will go up to an altitude of 19 kilometers before the Crew Escape System comes into play as the computer detects an anomaly.

The abort mission will demonstrate India's capability of saving its astronauts in case there is a problem with the launch.

As four Air Force officers continue to train for the Gaganyaan mission, all eyes are on the test as India awaits with bated breath that moment when it will launch astronauts to space from its own soil.