India’s premium space organisation, ISRO after successful launches to the Moon and Mars is now aiming at Venus. It has been constantly bringing laurels to India and has carved out a special place in the hearts and minds of every Indian. With consistent success in the past, it has set exemplary standards for itself and is now eyeing new summits to climb.
ISRO’s Venus conquest
The ISRO Chief S Somnath addressed a special day-long meeting on Venusian Science. He apprised everyone about ISRO’s new plans for the hottest planet in the solar system, that is, Venus. He said 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”.
ISRO has shortlisted December 2024 for the spacecraft launch to Venus. It will try to tape on a rare window as this will be the right time when the two neighbouring planets i.e. Earth and Venus will be the closest to each other. The fiscally prudent ISRO doesn’t want to miss this opportunity as the propellent required will be least in this case. The next such opportunity will only be available in 2031.
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The ISRO chief warned against experimentations carried out by earlier Venus missions. He emphasised the need to focus on unique high-impact outcomes as those were accomplished by Chandrayaan-I and the Mars Orbiter Mission. The Venus mission aims to study the surface processes, shallow subsurface stratigraphy, structure and dynamics of the atmosphere among other scientific experimentations.
ISRO: A Success story
The acronym ISRO in India is synonymous with raw talent, perseverance, hard work and a pool of talented people. ISRO’s story is not different from the story of bright minds who made India proud in the space sector without letting the scarcity of resources hamper their mega plans. From Vikram Sarabhai to the recent hall of fame K Sivan the list of gems from ISRO is endless.
The organisation which once used bullock carts to carry launch vehicles has now proven to be a worthy space competitor in the world. Underdeveloped and developing countries have found their perfect match in ISRO for space launches. This has been possible because of its remarkable feats few of which are listed below:-
- Mangalyaan, first country to enter Martian orbit in its first attempt, that too the cheapest mission to Mars to date
- Finding traces of Water on moon through the Chandrayaan-I
- Simultaneous 104 satellite launches and setting new records every time
- Strengthening foreign relations through launching satellites for friendly nations and neighbouring countries
- Satellites for Earth observation, helping farmers and fishermen, among many other innumerable feats.
ISRO’s upcoming projects
The ISRO has lined up projects for the future which will strengthen India’s position as a Space Superpower. It has declared some future projects that will be path-breaking, some of them are as listed below.
- Aditya L1
India’s first mission to explore the Sun, Aditya L1 will be launched in mid-2022. The pandemic has already caused a delay of one year in this project. The mission will be placed around 15,00,000 kilometres from earth, in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1).
- Gaganyaan
India’s maiden human space mission Gaganyan will be launched in 2023 in a phase-wise manner. The test vehicle flight for the validation of Crew Escape System and 1st uncrewed mission will be launched in the second half of 2022. This will be followed by the 2nd unmanned mission carrying “Vyommitra” (spacefaring Human-robot developed by ISRO) at the end of this year and the final crewed Ganganyaan mission in 2023.
- Space Station
India’s indigenous Space station is set to be launched by 2030. The partnerships in the current International Space Station are breaking and different groupings are emerging. Hence it is India’s stand to build our own space station independently knowing the fact that China is fast working on its own independent space station.
- Chandrayaan 3
ISRO has scheduled Chandrayaan Mission for the third quarter of 2022. It will strengthen the findings of the Chandrayaan-I and accomplish the rest of the part of the Chandrayaan-II mission. The Chandrayaan-II made a brave attempt to make a soft landing on Moon’s far side which earlier no nation had tried.
With the reputation ISRO has built over the years through its hard work and talent, the plans are already promising. ISRO has made India proud on numerous occasions and is giving everyone due notification to brace up for many new records and laurels for the country.
