ISRO announced a significant advancement in the human rating of its CE20 cryogenic engine, slated to propel the LVM3 rocket for India's manned space missions. Additionally, ISRO revealed that the inaugural unmanned Gaganyaan (G1) mission is tentatively planned for the second quarter of 2024. Gaganyaan marks India's foray into human space exploration.

As per ISRO's statement, the CE20 cryogenic engine underwent its conclusive round of ground qualification tests, concluding on February 13th. This final test marked the seventh in a sequence of vacuum ignition tests conducted at the High Altitude Test Facility within the ISRO Propulsion Complex in Mahendragiri, replicating flight conditions.

The ground qualification tests for the human rating of the CE20 engine involved life demonstration tests, endurance tests, and performance assessment under nominal operating conditions as well as off-nominal conditions with reference to thrust, mixture ratio, and propellant tank pressure, ISRO said. All the ground qualification tests of the CE20 engine for the Gaganyaan programme have been successfully completed.

In order to qualify the CE20 engine for human rating standards, four engines have undergone 39 hot firing tests under different operating conditions for a cumulative duration of 8,810 seconds against the minimum human rating qualification standard requirement of 6,350 seconds, the Indian Space Agency said. ISRO has also successfully completed the acceptance tests of the flight engine identified for the first unmanned Gaganyaan (G1) mission tentatively scheduled for Q2 of 2024.

ISRO stated that this engine is designated to propel the upper stage of the human-rated LVM3 vehicle, boasting a thrust capability ranging from 19 to 22 tonnes and a specific impulse of 442.5 seconds. Chairman of the Indian Space Agency, S. Somanath, has dubbed 2024 as the "Year of Gaganyaan" for ISRO, highlighting a series of tests and preparatory endeavors aimed at realizing the nation's manned space mission by 2025.

Somanath stated that in 2024, ISRO is scheduled to conduct two additional abort missions. In the preceding year, the space agency successfully executed the inaugural Flight Test Vehicle Abort Mission-1 (TV-D1) to showcase the crew escape system. According to him, ISRO's agenda includes two unmanned missions, a helicopter drop test, launchpad abort tests, and various other initiatives.