The Centre is encouraging the private segment and startups for realisation of India's ambitious human space mission, said Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh.

To a question raised in the LokSabha on the status of India's human space mission Gaganyaan Singh on Wednesday stated: "The government is encouraging the private sector and startups for various Gaganyaan activities such as hardware realisation, components supply, health monitoring devices, Virtual reality simulators, etc."On the present status of the Gaganyaan project he said an astronaut training facility has been commissioned in Bengaluru. Training activities are progressing well there.

The design of all systems and subsystems for Gaganyaan has been accomplished. Realisation of the same is in different stages of progress.

Long duration qualification test of the human rated cryogenic engine and first phase testing of human rated VIKAS Engine have been completed. The first phase of the demonstration tests for Gaganyaan service module propulsion system has also been completed, Singh said.

As per his knowledge, the proof of concept demonstration for a ground network with service providers has been completed. The construction of an integration facility for Orbital module preparation is nearing completion.

"The MoU (Memorandum of Understanding), Contracts and Implementation Arrangements(IA) related activities with both national and international agencies are progressing well. The design of various human centric products has been completed and various prototypes are under realisation," he stated.

Further the receipt of Gaganyaan deliverables against contracts with Glavkosmos, Russia and CNES, France have commenced.The roles and responsibility for crew recovery operations and rehearsals finalised. Detailed operational requirements for nominal missions’ scenarios are worked out.

"The activities related to development of microgravity experiments have commenced. The conceptual design for experiments is under review," Singh stated.