Exclusive: Gaganyaan spacecraft engines tested successfully by ISRO, all you need to know

This cluster of engines would help Indian astronauts remain in orbit and also aid their safe return.

Chennai: Launching rockets and placing satellites in orbit has been routine business for the Indian Space Research Organization. Meanwhile, Gaganyaan(Sanskrit for SkyCraft), a hugely complex mission to send Indian astronauts to space, is a work in progress. Recently, ISRO announced the successful completion of a crucial test of the Gaganyaan spacecraft’s propulsion system. This cluster of engines would help Indian astronauts remain in orbit and also aid their safe return. Zee Media spoke to Chairman ISRO, DR.K.Sivan and Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Center, Dr. S. Somanath to throw light on the latest test and the mission plan.    The launching of satellites and human-carrying spacecraft are quite similar, but the latter is exponentially sophisticated in terms of the technology and reliability that has to be developed. In both cases, the payload sits on the top-most portion of the rocket. The expendable rocket’s task ends about 16-20 minutes after lift-off and it falls back into the sea(in a phased manner), after ejecting the satellite. Once placed into orbit, the satellite/spacecraft is an independent entity in space that needs to navigate and propel itself, without the powerful propulsion of the rocket that got it up there.