India continues to make progress toward the first unmanned flight of its human spaceflight program, Gaganyaan (Sanskrit for “space vehicle”). Early last week, the country's space agency successfully completed final tests to qualify the rocket engine for test flight, approving it as capable of safely transporting astronauts into space.

The engine test was the seventh in which flight conditions were simulated to evaluate the aircraft's durability and performance under normal and abnormal conditions, including variations in thrust and propellant tank pressures, officials said in a statement. statement on Wednesday (February 21). The test was carried out at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) in the southern state of Tamil Nadu.

Since 2014, seven years after the start of the Gaganyaan program, ISRO has existed perfect your own aeronautical equipment including engines, solid rocket boosters, crew escape systems and parachutes ahead of the uncrewed Gaganyaan-1 (G1) mission, tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of this year.

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This year's test flight will carry a humanoid robot, Vyomitra (Sanskrit for “space friend”), to help validate ISRO's technology before astronauts fly aboard next year . First launched by the space agency in 2020, Vyomitra is a legless robot equipped with communication skillsissues warnings and monitors various crew module parameters.

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It is “designed in such a way that it can simulate human functions inside.” space environment and interact with life support systems,” Jitendra Singh, minister of state in India’s Ministry of Science and Technology, said in a statement. statement released earlier this month.

Singh reiterated that the agency plans to launch three astronauts for a seven-day trip to low Earth orbit next year, although no exact date has been announced.