Gaganyaan Mission: ISRO Completes a Significant Milestone!

Feb-21, ISRO completed the human evaluation of the CE20 cryogenic engine successfully on Wednesday. It is considered to be a significant milestone in the Gaganyaan Mission.

“ISRO completed the final round of ground qualification testing on February 13, marking a significant milestone in the human evaluation of the CE20 cryogenic engine that will power the cryogenic stage of the LVM3 manned launch vehicle for the Gaganyaan mission “2024. The latest test is the seventh in a series of vacuum ignition tests conducted at the High Altitude, Test Facility of ISRO Propulsion Facility, Mahendragiri, to simulate flight conditions,” ISRO said in a press release.

To qualify the CE20 engine for human evaluation criteria, 39 hot ignition tests were conducted on four engines for a total of 8810 seconds under various operating conditions, which is the minimum requirement for human evaluation criteria against the minimum standard qualification is 6350 seconds,” ISRO said.

All ground qualification tests of the CE20 engine of Gaganyaan project were successfully completed. Ground qualification testing for human evaluation of the CE20 engine includes life demonstration testing, durability testing, and performance evaluation under nominal operating conditions, as well as performance under non-nominal conditions for thrust, mixture ratio, and fuel tank pressure. It included an evaluation.

Gaganyaan Mission is scheduled to be launched between 2024 and 2025. The objective is to carry a three-person crew into a 400 km orbit for a three-day mission, land in the waters of the Indian Ocean, and return safely to Earth.

ISRO has also completed acceptance tests of aircraft engines identified for the first unmanned Gaganyaan mission (G1) scheduled to be launched in the second quarter of 2024. This engine powers the upper stage of the human-certified LVM3 vehicle and has a thrust capability of 19-22 tons with a specific impulse of 442.5 seconds.