L2A
Achieving Aspirations
SHUKRAYAAN
Why in news?
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is yet to receive approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission (Shukrayaan) and the mission could, as a result, be postponed to 2031.
More on news:
- Shukrayaan-I will be a mission for an orbiter. A high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and a ground-penetrating radar are two of its current scientific payloads.
- From an elliptical orbit, the mission will likely research Venus’s geological and volcanic activities, emissions on the surface, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary features.
- In the budget year 2022–2023, ISRO was given an allocation of 13,700 crores, a small increase from the previous year.
- Gaganyaan, the human spaceflight mission, received the majority of it.
- Various industry groups have created a wishlist ahead of the upcoming budget announcement and in response to recent reforms in the private spaceflight sector, which include increases in local manufacturing and procurement.
- The best time to launch from Earth to Venus is once every 19 months or thereabouts.
- In case it misses the 2024 window, ISRO has “backup” launch dates in 2026 and 2028.
- But every eight years, new better windows present themselves that further cut down on the quantity of fuel needed for takeoff.
- The VERITAS and EnVision missions of the American and European space agencies, respectively, both have Venus missions scheduled for 2031, but “China might go anytime: 2026, 2027, whenever they want to go.
- The pandemic was mentioned by ISRO as the reason for delaying Shukrayaan I’s launch from mid-2023 to December 2024.
- Delays in manufacturing and obligations to commercial launch services have also had an impact on other ISRO projects, such as Aditya L1 and Chandrayaan III.