Isro tests parachute system for Gaganyaan project

NELLORE: It was an unusual morning for the residents of the small cantonment town of Babina on the outskirts of Jhansi as they saw two giant colourful parachutes descending through a foggy November sky. On Friday, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, the lead centre for Gaganyaan activities conducted a major development test of its crew module deceleration system at the Babina Field Fire Range in the Jhansi district of Uttar Pradesh. The Gaganyaan deceleration system consists of three main parachutes, besides the smaller ACS, pilot, and drogue parachutes, to reduce the speed of the crew module to safe levels during its landing. The IMAT test is the first in a series of integrated parachute airdrop tests planned to simulate different failure conditions of the parachute system before it is deemed qualified to be used in the first human spaceflight mission. The overall system design, analytical simulations of parachute deployment and crew module descent under various conditions, the design and development of ordnance devices for parachute extraction and ejection, assembly/mechanical & electrical integration of deceleration system, it's instrumentation and avionics for conducting this drop tests are done by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, one of the leading R&D centre of ISRO.