The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has taken a major step forward in its Gaganyaan mission by successfully testing the CE20 cryogenic engine that will propel Indian astronauts into space.
India's space agency has successfully completed the human evaluation process for its CE20 cryogenic engine, which will power the cryogenic stage of the Launch Vehicle Mark II (LVM3) into space.
Aiming to accurately simulate flight conditions, engineers conducted the seventh vacuum ignition test at the High Altitude Test Facility at the ISRO Propulsion Complex in the Mahendragiri region of Odisha.
ISRO posted on social media that the ground qualification tests for human evaluation of the CE20 engine included live demonstration tests, endurance tests and performance assessments under normal and off-nominal operating conditions in terms of thrust, mixture ratio and propellant tank pressure.
ISRO announced that the CE20 engine has successfully completed 39 hot firing tests under various operating conditions for a total of 8810 seconds to meet human rating standards. This exceeds the minimum requirement of 6350 seconds for human rating qualification.