ISRO Successfully Tests Gaganyaan's Main Parachute System Over Madhya Pradesh

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has successfully tested the main parachute system for its Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission at the drop zone of the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) in Sheopur, Madhya Pradesh. ISRO said the test checked the strength and functioning of the main parachute system under the maximum load expected during the first uncrewed Gaganyaan flight, known as G1. ISRO said the successful test adds to confidence that the Gaganyaan crew module can bring India's astronauts back to Earth safely.

For the test, an Indian Air Force IL-76 aircraft released a test assembly — carrying the main parachute and a dummy payload — from an altitude of about 2.5 kilometres, to recreate real flight conditions. A drogue parachute opened first to stabilise the assembly and control its speed, before the main parachute deployed and lowered the payload to the ground at a safe speed. ISRO said the test met all set standards.

This was the fifth successful test in ISRO's Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test (IMAT) series, part of ISRO's continuing effort to test the parachute system under a range of different conditions ahead of the mission. The Gaganyaan crew module carries ten parachutes in total, each with a different role: some separate the module's protective cover, some slow its descent, some pull out the main parachutes, and the main parachutes finally lower the module to the ground at a safe speed. ISRO said the parachute system works in several stages, with each one important to the safety of the mission and its crew.