The national space agency of India declared on Wednesday that it has reached a significant milestone following the completion of the last set of ground certification tests on February 13, 2024.
“ISRO has accomplished a major milestone in the human rating of its CE20 cryogenic engine that powers the cryogenic stage of the human-rated LVM3 launch vehicle for Gaganyaan missions, with the completion of the final round of ground qualification tests on February 13, 2024,” stated ISRO in a press release.
According to ISRO, the last test was the seventh in a sequence of vacuum ignition tests that were conducted to mimic flight circumstances at the High Altitude Test Facility at the ISRO Propulsion Complex, Mahendragiri.
The national space agency declared, “All of the ground qualification tests of the CE20 engine for the Gaganyaan programme have been successfully completed.”
What does a human rating test consist of?
The ground qualification tests that were conducted for the human rating of the CE20 engine included life demonstration tests, endurance testing, and performance evaluation under nominal operating conditions as well as off-nominal conditions with regard to thrust, mixture ratio, and propellant tank pressure.
“In order to qualify the CE20 engine for human rating standards, four engines have undergone 39 hot firing tests under different operating conditions for a cumulative duration of 8810 seconds against the minimum human rating qualification standard requirement of 6350 seconds,” reported ISRO.
In addition to human grading, ISRO has effectively finished the flight engine acceptance testing for the first unmanned Gaganyaan (G1) mission, which is provisionally planned for Q2 of 2024. The human-rated LVM3 vehicle’s upper stage will be powered by this engine, which has a specific impulse of 442.5 seconds and a thrust capability of 19 to 22 tons.
Furthermore, it has been stated that The Indian Space Research Organization (Isro) is organising yet another audacious expedition to Mars.
Reports state that ISRO intends to send a lander to Mars. According to rumours, the lander will launch a rover and a rotocopter (helicopter) as soon as it touches down on the surface of Mars.
According to reports, the Indian space agency intends to send a rotocopter or drone to Mars. The drone will resemble the Ingenuity quadcopter from NASA. Over the course of three years, the Ingenuity made 72 journeys to Mars. It travelled eighteen kilometres in more than two hours of flight time. NASA claims that’s over 14 times farther than anticipated. It reached speeds of up to 36 kmph and reached heights of up to 24 metres.
Isro’s rotorcraft is reportedly still in the conceptual stage. Numerous devices, including temperature, humidity, pressure, wind speed, electric field, trace species, and dust sensors, are anticipated.
