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ISRO Chairman Somanath. (File photo: PTI)
“Today, we are flying the first mission of Gaganyaan, called G1. The first unmanned mission. The status today is that the rocket, S200 stage, L1, C32 stage are all at the Satish Dhawan Space Center,” Somanath said
ISRO aims to launch the first mission of the ambitious Gaganyaan program by December, a senior official said here on Friday.
ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that part of the rocket hardware for the manned space program has arrived at the Satish Dhawan Space Center here, and the integration of the crew module is under way at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Center in Thiruvananthapuram.
“Today, we are carrying out the first mission of Gaganyaan, called G1. The first unmanned mission. Today's status is that the rocket, S200 stage, L1, C32 stage are all at Satish Dhawan Space Centre,” he said.
He said that VSSC Trivandrum is undergoing manned module integration and manned escape hardware is also ready.
“So we have to complete the complete wiring and testing. Our goal is that by November, the whole system will be here and probably by December it will be activated,” he said in response to a query.
Somanath earlier in the day successfully launched the third and final development flight of the small satellite launch vehicle to place an Earth observation satellite into orbit.
The success of the third and final development flight will pave the way for ISRO's commercial arm NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) to launch commercial missions using the smallest vehicle.
Today's successful SSLV mission enables industry to enter into a partnership with ISRO to place satellites into low Earth orbit. Additionally, it allows companies to gain knowledge about rockets, launch vehicles and satellites during small satellite launch vehicle missions.
When asked whether industry needs to collaborate with ISRO for SSLV commercial launch mission, Somanath said a one-day meeting was held with industry recently.
“I hope that the first technology transfer between ISRO and industry will take place in India. A Request for Interest (RFI) has been issued, as a single (entity) or as a consortium, companies can do technology transfer (from ISRO) and what are the expectations of ISRO and show interest in how to qualify for such tasks,” he said.
He added that it was clear from interactions with industry that they were very interested in learning about space.
“We told them that it would be a huge challenge for anyone to learn rocketry from scratch. It's not just transferring the technology, we're transferring the knowledge (at ISRO) about how to do things. It's not just the drawings, we Also transferred to industry was the knowledge behind the drawings.
Through industrial partnership, ISRO will teach them how to build rockets, he said, adding that the industry should comply with the standards proposed by ISRO.
He said the company should have manufacturing capabilities and the manufacturing facilities and financial strength of the company would be assessed.
“We will add weights and points based on the performance of the companies and on this basis shortlist the companies and offer them contracts after those companies have to pay technology transfer fees,” he said.
Some of SSLV’s unique features include: it provides low-cost space access, short turnaround time and flexibility to accommodate multiple satellites, “launch-on-demand” feasibility, and the fact that SSLV missions require minimal launch infrastructure.
(This report has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from United News Agency-PTI)
