Isro Tests Great Escape Plan for Astronauts

Pad Abort is a bailout plan for astronauts if any untoward accident happens.

Bengaluru: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) on Thursday successfully tested a capsule that will carry an Indian astronaut to space in future. The first step was an experiment called ‘Pad Abort’ or crew bailout. This was tested at Isro facility in Sriharikota and marks the first step towards the country’s human space flight programme.

Pad Abort is a bailout plan for astronauts if any untoward accident happens during the test-flight of the spacecraft.

“The experiment on the ‘Pad Abort’ or crew bailout system at 7 am in Sriharikota was a grand success. Instead of a person, a crew model was used. The model was kept in a capsule and this was attached to a rocket engine. When the solid engine motor was fired and launched into air, the crew capsule got detached from the engine in air after some time, moved away from it, a parachute was deployed and the capsule landed safely at a designated spot on the sea. The 259-second test on the crew capsule was significant as this would be a crucial component of the indigenous human space flight programme. The experiment on the critical technology was meant to check the safety mechanism of the human space capsule and to see if the crew can bail out easily if any untoward accident happens during the test-flight of the spacecraft,” Isro chairman K Sivan told TOI.

“Our next test will focus on aborting the capsule at flight mode. Like today’s test, many components needed for the country’s first manned mission will be tested in near future,” he said.

On the planned manned mission, Sivan said “A human space programme focuses on taking a human to space and bringing him back to the Earth safely. For that purpose, we will have to provide a life support system to our crew within the spacecraft. Therefore, we will have to make arrangement for continuous oxygen supply, controlled pressure and environment system, food supply, human waste discharge system and crew protection system involving the escape capsule.”