ISRO tests crew escape system for human spaceflight
Chennai, July 5 : In its aim towards human spaceflight, Indian space agency ISRO on Thursday carried out the first in a series of tests to qualify a crew escape system.
The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in a statement said the crew escape system is a critical technology for human spaceflight.
"The crew escape system is an emergency escape measure designed to quickly pull the crew module along with the astronauts to a safe distance from the launch vehicle in the event of a launch abort.
"The first test (Pad Abort Test) demonstrated the safe recovery of the crew module in case of any exigency at the launch pad," ISRO said.
According to the ISRO, the five-hour countdown was smooth. The crew escape system along with the simulated crew module with a mass of 12.6 tonne, lifted off at 7 a.m. at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.
The test was over in 259 seconds, during which the crew escape system along with crew module soared skyward, then arced out over the Bay of Bengal and floated back to Earth under its parachutes about 2.9 km from Sriharikota.
The crew module reached an altitude of nearly 2.7 km 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.
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US suspends additional 26 pc tariff on India till July 9: White House
New Delhi, Apr 10 (PTI): The US has announced the suspension of additional tariffs on India for 90 days until July 9 this year, according to the White House executive orders.
On April 2, US President Donald Trump slapped universal duties on about 60 countries exporting goods to America and additional steep levies on countries like India, potentially impacting sales of products from shrimp to steel in the world's biggest economy. The move was aimed at cutting its trade deficit and boosting domestic manufacturing.
The US imposed an additional import duty of 26 per cent on India. The tariffs were high on its competitors like Thailand, Vietnam and China.
This suspension of tariffs is not applicable to China, including Hong Kong and Macau.
"Effective with respect to goods entered for consumption, or withdrawn from warehouse for consumption, on or after 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on April 10, 2025, enforcement of the second paragraph of section 3(a) of Executive Order 14257 is suspended until 12:01 a.m. eastern daylight time on July 9, 2025," the order said.
The second paragraph of Section 3 (a) of the executive order issued on April 2 mentions the implementation of reciprocal tariffs. It includes Annex 1 listing rate of tariffs for different countries.
However, the 10 per cent baseline tariff imposed on the countries will continue to remain in place.
A trade expert said the 25 per cent duty on steel, aluminium (effective from March 12), auto and auto components (from April 3) also continues.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director General Ajay Sahai said that semiconductors, pharmaceuticals, and certain energy products are under the exemption category.
