How the Gaganyaan crew module is built to survive
The article details the engineering design of India's Gaganyaan crew module, focusing on its ability to survive the extreme conditions of atmospheric re-entry. It explains the two-module configuration and compares it to international standards like the Russian Soyuz and Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft.
Why it matters
Understanding the structural integrity and design philosophy of the Gaganyaan module is critical for the success of India's maiden crewed space mission and its future in human spaceflight.
Gaganyaan is India’s maiden crewed space mission, designed to carry Indian astronauts to space and safely return them back to earth. Here, the rocket — Human-rated Launch Vehicle Mark (HLVM) 3 — will inject the orbital module (OM) into the desired orbit. The Gaganyaan astronauts will be onboard the OM.
The OM consists of two sections, the crew module and the service module, connected by a joint. The crew module serves as the crew habitat while the service module provides on-orbit support to the OM.
After the orbital phase, the propulsion system in the service module will fire its thrusters to de-orbit the OM, then the service module will separate from the crew module by severing the joint with a redundant mechanism.
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