DNA Edit: Pie in the sky – Dream of manned mission to come true

By 2022, ISRO is confident of realising a long-cherished dream: Sending an Indian scientist to space on its own steam. The space research organisation has gone from strength to strength since it was conceived in 1960s. It is now positive about surmounting the challenges of sending a manned mission. The cost involved – Rs 10,000 crore – might appear huge, but the dividend would be worth 10 times the expenditure. 

For starters, India will join the league of the US, Russia and China. When the USSR sent Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961, India had started taking baby steps towards making its dream of entering space come true. ISRO knows the range of complexities involved in a mission of this nature. These would be vastly different from its earlier missions to Moon and Mars. The space agency has to develop a shuttle that will return to earth with the astronauts within it safe and sound. For that, ISRO will also have to ensure Earth-like conditions within the spacecraft. The key requirement is to develop a launch vehicle that can carry heavy payloads into space. GSLV MK-III is ISRO’s most powerful launch vehicle to date which can lift four tons of payload to the geostationary transfer orbit and ten tons to the lower earth orbit. 

For a manned mission, the “crew module” would weigh at least six tonnes. ISRO has been working towards a manned mission for 15 years now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement from the ramparts of the Red Fort on August 15 is viewed as a formal endorsement of the mission by the government at the highest level. A lot depends on the success of enhancing the powers of GSLV Mk-III, which would be instrumental in delivering heavier payloads deeper into space. It has to be human-rated before 2022.