Current status of Gaganyaan programme and Special Space Programmes given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Jitendra Singh in Lok Sabha

Gaganyaan:

The current status of Gaganyaan programme is as follows:

1. An Astronaut training facility has been commissioned in Bengaluru. Training activities are progressing well at the newly commissioned Astronaut training facility.
2. The design of all systems and sub-systems for Gaganyaan has been completed. Realisation of the same is in different stages of progress.
3. Long duration qualification test of human rated cryogenic engine and First phase testing of human rated VIKAS Engine completed. First phase of demonstration tests for Gaganyaan service module propulsion system completed.
4. Proof of concept demonstration for ground network with service providers completed. Construction of integration facility for Orbital module preparation is nearing completion.
5. The MoU, Contracts and Implementation Arrangements (IA) related activities with both national and international agencies are progressing well. The design of various human centric products has been completed and various prototypes are under realization.
6. Receipt of Gaganyaan deliverables against contracts with M/s. Glavkosmos (Russia) and CNES (France) commenced.
7. Roles and responsibility for crew recovery operations and rehearsals finalized. Detailed operational requirements for nominal missions scenarios worked out.
8. The activities related to development of microgravity experiments have commenced. The conceptual design for experiments is under review.

The government is encouraging the private sector and start-ups for various Gaganyaan activities such as hardware realization, components supply, health monitoring devices, Virtual reality simulators etc.

Protection of India’s Interests in Space

Government of India through Department of Space has been proactive in protecting and augmenting India’s interests in space by developing all-round capabilities in the domains of space transportation, infrastructure and applications.

Further, for protection of Indian satellites and other equipment in orbit, ISRO actively participates in all international efforts to contain the space debris growth for the long term sustainability of outer space.

ISRO is an active member of Inter Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee(IDAC), IAF Space Debris Working Group, IAA Space Traffic Management Working Group, ISO Space Debris Working Group and UNCOPUOS long term sustainability Working Group – all international organisations contributing to the space debris studies and space situational awareness.

Special Space Programmes

In order to meet the communication requirements of the country, three Indian High Throughput Satellites with 25 Gbps capacity are operational for providing broadband connectivity under BharatNet programme to Grampanchayats where adequate Optical Fibre Cable (OFC) connectivity is not available. One more High Throughput Satellite is under realization. Government has opened up space sector for participation of the private players as co-travelers so that they can build, own and operate satellites to meet the growing demands for satellite capacity in the country.

This information was given by Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievance & Pensions and in the Prime Minister’s Office, Dr. Jitendra singh in a written reply in Lok on 23rd March 2022.

PIB