New Delhi: The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed and tested food items and landing gears — parachute systems for astronauts to be used in the country’s first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan. Unveiling DRDO’s role in the upcoming Gaganyaan mission, B K Das, Director General of Electronics and Communication at DRDO, said, “There are a lot of activities happening on the Gaganyaan mission at DRDO.

We have developed specialised food required for the mission and specialised systems for parachutes. We have also got specialised technologies for astronauts who can be dependent on our own systems, products.” Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the DRDO Industry Synergy Meet in Bengaluru on Thursday, he stated that the DRDO is ensuring dual use of technologies developed for the armed forces and for the ISRO programmes.

Das highlighted the institution’s partnership with the nation’s space giant, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). “Many of the technologies have been developed, tested, and have been collaborated with ISRO,” he added. Commenting on the test results of the technologies developed, he noted that both phase one and two trials have generated “very good results” tested both in the laboratory conditions as well as in the external environments.

“I think both ISRO and the DRDO have got a good satisfaction level from the tests,” he said, adding that “still some more work is left”, and it should be completed soon. India’s maiden human flight mission — aimed at carrying astronauts to Earth’s lower orbit and safely back to Earth – is scheduled to launch in 2027. Before the final mission, ISRO plans to send three un-crewed missions to space, with the first attempt by the end of December this year.