ISRO Gears Up for Gaganyaan Readiness

ISRO Prepares for the Launch of Gaganyaan

Following PSLV-C58's successful launch, ISRO Chairman S. Somanath presented the agency's ambitious goals for the upcoming year at a press conference. He underlined that obtaining preparation for the Gaganyaan mission will be the focus of 2024.

The successful day saw the integration of ISRO's first X-Ray Polarimeter satellite onto the PSLV C58 mission, demonstrating the organization's continued progress in space exploration.

Speaking about ISRO's ambitious plans for the year, Mr. Somanath said, "We are preparing for at least 12-14 missions in 2024, with a primary focus on Gaganyaan readiness, even though the mission is slated for 2025."

He stated, "The Gaganyaan mission commenced with the TV-D1 abort mission successfully conducted in October 2023," highlighting the mission's advancement. We want to demonstrate our growing capabilities by conducting two more abort missions in 2024, for a total of three."

Mr. Somanath elaborated on the significance of unmanned missions, saying, "These missions will evaluate our hardware readiness. In order to certify parachute systems that are essential for unmanned missions, we'll do drop tests from helicopters. Launch pad aborts and a variety of valuation tests, including simulation tests, crew module assessments, and environmental control support system tests, are included in this."

The chairman of ISRO reaffirmed in a firm voice the organization's resolve to make 2024 a key year for attaining goals related to the Gaganyaan mission.