ISRO to hold more test under Gaganyaan vehicle missions after maiden test flight on Oct 21: Chairman
Madurai (TN) (PTI): ISRO will conduct three more test vehicle missions under the ambitious Gaganyaan programme after the maiden TV-D1 test flight, which is scheduled on October 21, the space agency's chairman S Somanath has said.
The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of the human spaceflight capability by launching a human crew to an orbit of 400 km and bringing them safely back to earth by landing in Indian sea waters.
The test vehicle development flight (TV-D1) will be conducted at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh to test the crew module that is scheduled to house Indian astronauts during the human spaceflight late next year.
"The first test vehicle flight (of the Gaganyaan mission) will be conducted on October 21. After that we have planned for three more test missions, D2, D3, D4. We will hold thorough tests during the test flight sequence," Somanath, who is also the secretary, Department of Space, told reporters in Madurai on Saturday. He was here to participate in a couple of events in Rameswaram.
TV-D1 involves launching the crew module to outer space, bringing it back to earth and recovering it after touchdown in the Bay of Bengal.
Recently, Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said the Bengaluru-headquartered space agency would carry out the first of several test flights ahead of the Gaganyaan maiden mission on October 21 at Sriharikota.
To a query about the Aditya-L1 programme, the maiden solar mission undertaken by ISRO, Somanath expressed hope that the spacecraft will reach the Lagrange point (L1) in the middle of January 2024.
"We will insert it in the L1 point and undertake various scientific experiments from that point," he said.
Last week, ISRO scientists performed a trajectory correction manoeuvre on the Aditya L1 spacecraft. The spacecraft was launched by a PSLV-C57 rocket on September 2.
On the setting up of another launch pad in Kulasekarapattinam in Tuticorin district, he said ISRO would be able to avail several benefits from that launch pad as it would be useful for launching smaller rockets and to serve private players.
" right now bigger rockets like PSLV need to take a turn towards the southward direction above Sri Lanka since the launch pad is in the east (in Sriharikota). Whereas in Kulasekarapattinam, we don't need to make rockets to make that turn as they will already be facing southward," he said.
"Smaller Satellite Launch Vehicles and private players will be able to use that launch pad (in Kulasekarapattinam). Right now, the land is in the acquisition stage. It will take two years for completion," Somanath said.
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Two persons held for possessing illegal firearms
Mangaluru (Karnataka) (PTI): The Central Crime Bureau of Mangaluru police has arrested two men for allegedly possessing illegal firearms and live ammunition, officials said on Tuesday.
They have been identified as Mohammad Asgar (26) and Abdul Nisar K (29), both residents of Manjeshwar of Kasargod district in Kerala, they said.
Acting swiftly on a tip-off, Mangaluru Central Crime Bureau (CCB) police received information that two persons in the Pilikur area of Talapadi village of Ullal taluk were allegedly roaming around in a black car without any licence and carrying a pistol and brandishing it as they moved around in the expensive vehicle.
According to the Mangaluru city police Commissioner, Anupam Aggarwal, the raiding CCB team confiscated a pistol, two live rounds of ammunition, two mobile phones and a black Hyundai Verna.
The total value of the seizure is Rs. 7,15,000.
A case has been registered at Ullal police station in this regard.
Mohammad Asgar was a habitual offender, and a total of eight cases have been registered against him in the Manjeshwar police station of Kasaragod district in Kerala, including highly incriminating cases such as attempted murder, abduction, assault, the sale of ganja in Ullal police station limits, and smuggling of ganja in Baiyappanahalli police station limits in Bangalore city.
