Isro completes fifth Gaganyaan parachute test ahead of uncrewed G1 mission

Isro has completed the fifth Integrated Main Parachute Airdrop Test (IMAT-05), clearing another milestone toward the first uncrewed Gaganyaan mission by qualifying the crew module’s main parachute system to withstand the maximum expected loads during descent, the space agency said.

The test, conducted on 7 July at the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) drop zone in Sheopur, involved a simulated single main parachute and dummy payload dropped from an altitude of 2.5 km using an Indian Air Force IL-76 aircraft. After an extractor and drogue parachute deployed to stabilise the payload, the main parachute opened and safely slowed the descent to its terminal speed.

Isro said the objective was to validate the structural integrity and design margins of the main parachute under the most demanding load conditions expected during the G1 mission, the first uncrewed flight under the Gaganyaan programme. The crew module’s deceleration system comprises 10 parachutes of four different types: two apex cover separation parachutes, two drogue parachutes, three pilot parachutes and three main parachutes.

The test was carried out jointly by Isro, DRDO, the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army. Isro has not disclosed when IMAT-04 was conducted or what it demonstrated; the last public confirmation before IMAT-05 was IMAT-03, announced on 11 November 2025 based on a trial conducted on 3 November 2025.