BENGALURU – The Indian Space Research Organisation today successfullycarried out a flight test for a newly-designed Crew Escape System, meantfor saving lives of astronauts in an exigency.
The space agency said it was the first in a series of tests to ascertainthe trustworthiness and efficiency of the Crew Escape System.
The system is an emergency measure designed to quickly pull away the crewmodule along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicleif the mission gets aborted.
The first ‘Pad Abort Test’ demonstrated the safe recovery of the crewmodule in case of any exigency at the launch pad, the Indian Space ResearchOrganisation said in a release.
After a smooth five-hour countdown, the Crew Escape System along with thesimulated crew module lifted off at 7.00 AM from its pad at the SatishDhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota today, it said.
The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the Escape System and themodule soared skyward, before arching out over the Bay of Bengal andfloating back to earth using its parachutes, about 2.9 km from Sriharikota,it added.
The ISRO has already conducted technology demonstrator tests ofindigenously made Reusable Launch Vehicle (RLV), capable of launchingsatellites into orbit around Earth and then re-entering the atmosphere.
The ISRO said the crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km underthe power of its seven specifically designed quick-acting solid motors totake it away to a safe distance without exceeding the safe g-levels.
Nearly 300 sensors recorded various mission performance parameters duringthe test flight, it said, adding that three boats are being readied toretrieve the module as part of the recovery protocol.