The ISRO chief S Somanath, on Wednesday, confirmed indigenous development of the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) for Gaganyaan, after failing to get it from other countries.
The Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission is set to be a milestone in India's history of space exploration and is on track for launch in 2025. This ambitious mission is designed to carry a human crew to an orbit 400 kilometres above the Earth and then return them safely, culminating in a landing in the Indian Ocean.
Somanath, who was speaking at the 5th Manohar Parrikar Vidnyan Mahotsav 2023 in Goa, said that despite their team's extensive expertise in rocket and satellite design, they lacked experience in developing an environmental control life support system.
"We have no experience in developing a life-support system with environmental control. We have only designed rockets and satellites. We thought this knowledge would come from other nations, but unfortunately, after so much discussion, no one is willing to give it to us," Somanath said. "We will develop it in India using the knowledge and industries we have," he added.
He also said that India has been engaged in developing knowledge-based design capabilities for many years and the culmination of this effort will be the Gaganyaan programme, India's manned space mission.
Somanath said that sending humans into space through the Gaganyaan programme will require a higher level of skill and confidence than they currently have.