The country’s top space agency, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Wednesday said it is confident of fulfilling Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s mission of putting an Indian astronaut in space by 2022.

ISRO Chairman, K Sivan told newspersons here that the project estimated at ₹9,000 crore was highly doable. “We have tested the necessary critical technologies required for the Human Space Flight Programme (HSP) and are confident of achieving it as stated by the Prime Minister,” he said. He said ISRO was confident of putting three astronauts in space for seven days.

The press conference scheduled for Thursday was advanced to Wednesday following Prime Minister’s announcement that the country will put an Indian into space by 2022 during his Independence Day speech.

It will be not just ISRO’s but a national mission and bring prestige to the country; it will raise the scientific and technological temper across the country and inspire youngsters, Sivan said. They will be flown in a 7-tonne crew module from the Sriharikota spaceport in coastal Andhra Pradesh. The module will be flown on ISRO’s heavy-lift GSLV-MkIII rocket. The launcher is in its development phase and is expected to do some more flights in the next four years.

India would be the fourth nation to send an astronaut to go round Earth after the Soviets, the Americans and the Chinese. Way back in 1984, India’s first astronaut Wg Commander (retd) Rakesh Sharma orbited Earth as part of a Soviet mission.

Sivan said, “In the last few years, we did a lot of groundwork as part of R&D at our centres. We have developed most of the critical technologies needed for a human mission. We have demonstrated the flight of a crew module and its re-entry in 2014. On July 5, we conducted an experiment for emergency escape of astronauts called Pad Abort Test. The rest will be realised in time.”

The most critical elements are the Environment Control and Life Support Systems that make the crew capsule and flight safe and liveable for the astronauts. Food and hygiene are other aspects. These technologies are getting ready while space suits are being developed at the ISRO, he said.

The spacecraft will be monitored 24/7 from the ISRO Telemetry Tracking and Command Centre in Peenya. A new dedicated control centre for HSP would be set up at ISTRAC. The launchpad at the Sriharikota spaceport would be enhanced for the human mission.

Collaboration with IAF

While formal agreements are not yet in place, ISRO will collaborate with the Indian Air Force and its Institute of Aerospace Medicine, Bengaluru, to train astronauts. Various defence labs will be tapped for crew support systems.

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