Bengaluru: According to the Indian Space Research Organisation, the flight acceptance hot test of the CE-20 cryogenic engine powering the cryogenic upper stage of the launch vehicle for the Chandrayaan-3 mission was successfully conducted. The Bengaluru-headquartered national space agency said the warm-up test was carried out for a planned duration of 25 seconds at the High Altitude Test Facility of the ISRO Propulsion Complex at Mahendragiri in Tamil Nadu on February 24.
“All propulsion parameters during the test were found to be satisfactory and closely matched with the predictions,” ISRO said in a statement on Monday.
ISRO said that the cryogenic engine will be further integrated with the propellant tank, stage structure and associated fluid lines to realize a fully integrated flight cryogenic stage.
Earlier this year, the Chandrayaan-3 lander successfully underwent EMI/EMC tests at the UR Rao Satellite Center here.
EMI-EMC (Electro-Magnetic Interference/Electro-Magnetic Compatibility) testing is carried out for satellite missions to ensure the functionality of satellite subsystems in the space environment and their compatibility with expected electromagnetic levels, it was noted.
ISRO had said, “This test is a major milestone in the realization of the satellites.”
The Chandrayaan-3 interplanetary mission has three major modules: a propulsion module, a lander module and a rover. The complexity of the mission demanded the establishment of radio frequency (RF) communication links between the modules.
According to ISRO, during Chandrayaan-3 lander EMI/EC testing, launcher compatibility, antenna polarization of all RF systems, standalone auto compatibility test for orbital and powered descent mission phases and lander and rover compatibility test for post landing mission phase were ensured. were done. ,
Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up mission to Chandrayaan-2, which demonstrated end-to-end capability in safe landing and orbiting on the lunar surface. ISRO is planning to launch the mission in June.
It will be launched by Launch Vehicle Mark 3 (LVM3) from Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota (Andhra Pradesh).
The propulsion module will take the lander and rover configuration up to 100 km lunar orbit. The propulsion module carries the Spectro-Polarimeter of Habitable Planet Earth (SHAP) payload to study the spectral and polar metric measurements of Earth from lunar orbit.