ISRO Gaganyaan Mission On A Lookout For Inflatable Habitats, Space Food

COVID-19 pandemic has wrapped the world and bringing it to a standstill. But before this, ISRO had chalked out various missions for the coming years including the Chandrayaan-3, Aditya mission to better understand the Sun, and Gaganyaan manned mission. Now, ISRO is looking for various technologies to carry out these space missions.

ISRO is currently looking for inflatable habitats, in-situ 3D manufacturing for space, and a few more for the Gaganyaan mission. These experiments and equipment will be carried to space as part of the mission. Also, ISRO is looking for proposals in human psychology for long-term missions to better understand the impact on astronauts.

"The human space program requires innovations and creative technologies for space explorations which will lead to widening of scientific knowledge, economic growth, value addition to the quality of life of a common man and thus national development," ISRO said as part of the announcement of opportunities (AO).

As reported on multiple occasions, ISRO is looking to expand its space missions. While the immediate mission is to send astronauts to space, particularly to the low-Earth orbit, ISRO is looking for other ways to explore space. For one, the premier space agency is working on building a space station as well, which would be a pitstop for sending humans to the Moon.

"We'll continue this program with plans to send people to the Space Station and the Moon. Work on this will happen parallel to Gaganyaan," ISRO chief Sivan had noted earlier, reports the Times of India. Currently, four astronauts have been handpicked by the Institute of Aerospace Medicine and are undergoing training in Russia.

Why Is The Required?

The fact that ISRO is looking for scientific equipment and experiments says quite a few things. The announcement of opportunities shows that ISRO is on a lookout for technologies that can establish long term research as well as plan for necessary facilities. This includes human resource development for optimal utilization of experimental applications and technological developments.

Apart from inflatable habitats and in-situ 3D manufacturing, ISRO is looking for prospects with space food and related technologies. Debris management, mitigation, space bioengineering, bioastronautics, and so on are also listed in ISRO's list.