In a message welcoming 2022, Chairman of ISRO, K Sivan has informed that ISRO has made “very significant contributions in continuing the operational missions, conceiving many new missions, undertaking many technology development initiatives, and planning for the next decade of space activities.”
While it felt like 2021 was not a major year for the Indian Space agency because of “less number of launches”, 2022 will pave the way towards achieving India’s space goals.
ISRO has Chandrayaan-2, Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan), and Astrosat missions operational, and Chandrayaan-3 could be set for a launch date by middle of 2023 with huge progress in incorporating design and testing.
Shukrayaan-1 is one of the three significant projects in the pipeline by ISRO. The other two being TRISHNA, in collaboration with CNES (French Space Agency), to accurately map land surface temperatures, and DISHA mission for a twin aeronomy satellite.
About Shukrayaan – The Venus Mission
Aimed to be launched in late 2024, Shukrayaan will be India’s first mission to Venus and will study the planet for more than four years. The mission’s primary objectives are to map Venus’ surface and subsurface while studying the planet’s atmospheric chemistry and interaction with the solar wind.
If ISRO misses the 2024 launch window, the other would come in 2026. It was noted that the optimal launch window (when Venus is closest to the Earth) comes about every 19 months.
Previously also, the launch date of the mission has been extended for a year due to pandemic related delays. ISRO was aiming for a mid-2023 launch when it released its call for instruments back in 2018.
Currently, Shukrayaan is planned to be launched on India’s GSLV Mk II rocket, although the prospect of launching it through the more powerful GSLV Mk III rocket is being analysed. The latter will allow Shukrayaan to carry more instruments and fuel.
Weighing around 2500 kilograms, the orbiter will carry a science payload consisting of a synthetic aperture radar and other instruments.
Upon launching, Shukrayaan is predicted to take a few months to reach Venus, where it will enter a highly elliptical orbit of 500 by 60,000 kilometers around the planet. Over the following year, it will use aerobraking to lower its orbit to 200 by 600 kilometers. This polar orbit will be the final one used for scientific observations.
The orbiter will also carry a ground penetrating radar, making it the first to map Venus’ subsurface. These observations would help scientists better understand Venus’ geology and evolution.
Venus is often described as the ‘twin sister’ of the Earth because of the similarities in size, mass, density, bulk composition, and gravity. It is believed that both planets share a common origin, forming at the same time out of a condensing nebulosity around 4.5 billion years ago. Venus is around 30 per cent closer to the Sun as compared to Earth resulting in much higher solar flux.
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Also read: NASA’s Parker Probe passes through the Sun’s atmosphere
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Countries that might join the mission
Almost 100 kilograms of Shukrayaan’s 2500 kg mass is set aside for scientific instruments, according to the call for instrument proposals ISRO issued two years ago soliciting payloads from India and abroad.
The open call for instruments marks a return to the approach ISRO took with Chandrayaan-1, the lunar orbiter it launched in 2008 carrying six instruments from countries other than India. The 2013 Mangalyaan Mars orbiter, and 2019’s Chandrayaan-2 lunar orbiter and lander, in contrast, carry only Indian instruments.
Consequently, instruments from 20 countries have been shortlisted. It is expected that Russia, France, Sweden, and Germany will have instruments on-board. The French space agency CNES announced in September that the Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker, or VIRAL, instrument it co-developed with Russia’s space agency, will fly on Shukrayaan.
According to ISRO, Shukrayaan will also carry an instrument suite capable of spectroscopic observations in infrared, ultraviolet, and submillimeter wavelengths to study Venus’ atmosphere. The possible detection of phosphine in Venus’ upper atmosphere excited many people about the prospects of life there.
The presence of phosphine and other biomarkers in Venus’ upper atmosphere could be confirmed using the orbiter’s Near Infrared Spectrometer. The instrument will also be used to detect and locate any active volcanism on Venus.
Only three spacecraft have orbited Venus in the past 30 years. NASA announced about two Venus missions earlier this year. The European Space Agency is considering a Venus orbiter mission called EnVision that would launch by the 2030s. Russia is working on a Venus orbiter and lander mission concept called Venera-D that would launch no earlier than 2023.