ISRO begins assembly of HLVM3 for Gaganyaan’s first uncrewed flight

The assembly of the HLVM3 is taking place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota and the uncrewed flight is expected to take place early next year from the spaceport. Photo: ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation on Wednesday (December 18) commenced the assembly of the Human Rated Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (HLVM3) for the Gaganyaan mission’s maiden uncrewed flight.

The assembly of the HLVM3 is taking place at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) in Sriharikota and the uncrewed flight is expected to take place early next year from the spaceport.

“At 0845 hrs on December 18, 2024, at SDSC, the stacking of the nozzle end segment with full flex seal nozzle of the S200 motor took place, thus commencing the official launch campaign of the HLVM3-G1 / OM-1 mission,” ISRO said.

It further added that the preparation of both S200 motors will now involve assembling segments, control systems, and avionics.

“L110 and C32 stages for the HLVM3 are ready at the launch complex. The crew escape systems elements are also received at SDSC. The integration of the Crew Module is happening at VSSC and the integration of the Service Module at URSC, Bengaluru. The Orbital Module (OM) level integration and tests will take place subsequently at URSC,” it added.

The Gaganyaan project envisages a demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching a crew of three members to an orbit of 400 km for a three-day mission and bringing them back safely to Earth by landing in Indian sea waters.

Under the Gaganyaan programme, ISRO intends to carry out three uncrewed missions and one crewed mission. The un-crewed mission is scheduled to take place in 2024-25, and the first crewed mission is scheduled in 2025-27.

The assembly of the HLVM3 coincides with the 10th anniversary of the LVM3-X/CARE mission, which took place on December 18, 2014.

“It was on December 18, 2014, that the Indian Coast Guard recovered the Crew Module from the turbulent seas of the Bay of Bengal, approximately 1600 km from SDSC-SHAR. On the morning of the same day, LVM3-X, in its maiden flight, had lifted a Crew Module of mass of 3775 kg (LVM3-X/CARE mission) into a suborbital altitude of 126 km from where it was controlled using thrusters to orient it for a favourable re-entry,” ISRO said.