The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has conducted a test flight of its crew escape system designed for manned space missions at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh.
The trial was the first in a series of tests to qualify the crew escape system, an emergency escape for astronauts used if the launch vehicle is involved an accident.
It has been designed to immediately pull the crew module to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in case of a launch abort.
According to ISRO, the pad abort test was carried out to confirm the safe recovery of the crew module if an emergency occurs at the launch pad.
During the test, the crew escape system, along with the 12.6t simulated crew module, lifted off from its pad at Satish Dhawan Space Centre.
The test lasted more than 259 seconds, during which the crew escape system and the crew module flew toward the sky and over the Bay of Bengal before floating back to Earth.
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By GlobalDataThe system used parachutes to land nearly 2.9km away from Sriharikota.
ISRO said in a statement: “The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7km under the power of its seven specifically designed quick acting solid motors to take away the crew module to a safe distance without exceeding the safe g-levels.
“Nearly 300 sensors recorded various mission performance parameters during the test flight.
“Three recovery boats are being exercised to retrieve the module as part of the recovery protocol.”
ISRO has conducted 97 spacecraft missions and 67 launch missions so far.
