ISRO, post tasting the success of Missions to Moon & Mars, is now planning to ready a spacecraft to orbit Venus to study what lies below the surface of the solar system’s hottest planet, and unravel the mysteries under the sulfuric acid clouds enveloping it.
Venus Mission Possible For India : ISRO Chairman
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Chairman S Somnath, while addressing a day-long meeting on Venusian science, said that the Venus mission has been conceived, a project report made and “money identified”.
In his inaugural address, he said, “Building and putting a mission on Venus is possible for India in a very short space of time as the capability today exists with India” and urged the scientists to focus on the high-impact outcomes.
The Details of the Plan
ISRO is planning to execute it in the December 2024 window, but wait, why is that?
The answer lies in the economics part of it.
See, the agency plans to launch with orbital manoeuvres for 2024, as it is in the 2024 that the Earth and Venus would be so aligned that the spacecraft could be put in the neighbouring planet’s orbit using a minimum amount of propellant.
Next such opportunity shall arise in 2031.
Citing the high impact outcome missions like Chandrayaan-I and Mars Orbiter Mission, Somnath advocated the focus on high impact rather that the repeating experiments conducted by previous missions to Venus
The planned experiments include an investigation of the surface processes and shallow sub-surface stratigraphy, including active volcanic hotspots and lava flows, studying the structure, composition, and dynamics of the atmosphere, and investigation of solar wind interaction with the Venusian Ionosphere.
[…] had previously reported that ISRO planned a Venus Mission in December 2024. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) […]
[…] had previously reported that ISRO planned a Venus Mission in December 2024. Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) […]