ISRO Extends Last Date for Announcement of Opportunity in Human Space Flight Program till 31 August 2020

ISRO has extended the last date for submitting proposals for the development of technologies for sustained Indian Human Space Program and Space Exploration until 31 August 2020. Last month, the Indian Space Research Organisation had issued an Announcement of Opportunity (AO) for the Human Space Flight program.

ISRO had invited proposals from national research and academic institutions for developing affordable and indigenous cutting edge technologies for human survival in low earth orbits and beyond for space exploration.

“There is need to build capabilities to derive scientific benefits from ISRO’s Human Spaceflight Program. There is also a need to establish long term research as well as plan for necessary facilities, human resource developments for optimal utilisations of experimental applications and technological developments for societal usage. This opportunity will enable national research/academic institutions to harness their expertise and capabilities towards the development of technologies for space exploration,” said ISRO in the Announcement of Opportunity.

Some of the technology development areas that are listed are radiation hazards characterisation and mitigation techniques, space food and related technologies, inflatable habitats technology, human-robotic interfaces, thermal protection systems, In-situ 3D manufacturing technologies for space, and any other relevant technology related to human space program.

The Principal Investigator (PI) of the proposal needs to provide necessary details and usage of technology or  solution for human space program which can bridge the gap in terms of affordability and indigenisation, and also be adequately prepared to develop a space-qualified payload or solution.

ISRO will constitute a selection committee for scrutinize the proposals, and the screening of the proposals will be based on scientific benefits, relevance, technical content and feasibility perspective.