ISRO completes LEM test ahead of Gangayaan project

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

Bengaluru, Aug 11:
An
important
milestone
in
the
planned
human
spaceflight
project
Gaganyaan
was
completed
on
Wednesday
with
the
successful
test-firing
of
the
Low
Altitude
Escape
Motor
(LEM)
of
crew
escape
system
from
Sriharikota
spaceport,
space
agency
ISRO
said.

The
crew
escape
system
takes
away
the
crew
module
of
Gaganyaan
mission
in
case
of
any
eventuality
and
rescues
the
astronauts,
the
Bengaluru-headquartered
Indian
Space
Research
Organisation
(ISRO)
said
in
a
statement.

In
case
of
aborting
the
mission
during
the
initial
phase
of
flight,
the
LEM
provides
the
required
thrust
to
the
crew
escape
system
to
take
away
the
crew
module
from
the
launch
vehicle,
it
said,
according
to
news
agency
PTI.

ISRO
launched
SPARK
a
new
virtual
space
museum

The
main
objectives
of
the
static
tests
are
to
evaluate
motor
ballistic
parameters,
validate
motor
subsystem
performance
and
confirm
the
design
margins
and
to
validate
the
integrity
of
all
interfaces,
among
others,
the
space
agency
said.

Meanwhile,
the
country’s
space
agency
has
come
up
with
an
innovative
idea
of
showcasing
digital
content
regarding
various
ISRO
missions
in
an
interactive
manner.
The
virtual
space
museum
SPARK
was
launched
by
ISRO
Chairman
S
Somanath
on
Wednesday
for
public
use.

“The
platform
hosts
several
documents,
images
and
videos
related
to
ISRO
launch
vehicles,
satellites
and
scientific
missions,”
the
Bengaluru-headquartered
space
agency
said
in
a
statement.

Somanath,
who
is
also
Secretary
in
the
Department
of
Space,
and
and
Directors
of
various
ISRO
centres
appreciated
the
initiative
taken
and
suggested
more
“non-sensitive”
digital
content
to
be
brought
on
this
platform
for
use
by
different
stakeholders,
it
said.

“The
beta
version
of
the
application
can
be
accessed
through
ISRO
website
or
at
spacepark.isro.gov.in,”
it
was
stated.