ISRO: ISRO & Navy conduct sea trials to safely recover astronauts

Bringing India’s first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan, closer to reality, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Navy have successfully completed ‘well deck’ recovery trials, the space agency announced on Tuesday.

The trials were conducted by the Eastern Naval Command using a well deck ship off the coast of Visakhapatnam on December 6. For the Gaganyaan mission, this technique is critical for ensuring the safe recovery of astronauts following their three-day mission around Earth’s orbit.

“Once the Crew Module (CM) touches down in the sea at the end of the mission, the crew must be recovered as quickly and comfortably as possible,” ISRO said. A well deck—a ship compartment that can be flooded to allow boats, landing crafts, or spacecraft to dock is a preferred option for recovering the module.

“One of the preferred options involves towing the module, with the crew inside, into the ship’s well deck, allowing them to exit the CM comfortably,” ISRO added.

The trials, which used a mass- and shape-simulated CM mock-up, included attaching a recovery buoy, towing the module, positioning it inside the ship’s well deck, and draining the compartment. These steps provided teams with a clear understanding of their roles and validated the sequence of operations, ground fixtures, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).

“This trial validated the overall sequence of operations, and ground fixtures, and will help in fine-tuning SOPs,” ISRO noted. The trials are part of a series of exercises to finalize procedures for nominal and off-nominal recovery scenarios.

In May 2023, ISRO and the Navy had unveiled the Gaganyaan recovery training plan at the Water Survival Training Facility (WSTF) at INS Garuda, Kochi.