Space
Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)- Shukrayaan
- Context: During Prime Minister official visit to Sweden, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Swedish National Space Agency signed a MoU formalizing Sweden’s participation in India’s upcoming Venus Orbiter Mission.
About Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)
- Officially called the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), Indian Space Research Organisation’s Shukrayaan (which translates to “Venus Craft”) will be India’s first exclusive mission to explore Venus.
- The mission has been cleared by the Union Cabinet with an estimated cost of ₹1,236 crore. The orbiter is expected to carry 19 scientific instruments for research and observation.
- Planned Launch: March 29, 2028, using LVM3, ISRO’s heavy-lift launch vehicle.
Main Goals of the Venus Orbiter Mission
- Examine the geological structure of Venus, including its surface and regions beneath it.
- Study the planet’s atmosphere, its composition, and weather-related processes.
- Explore the ionosphere and understand its changing behaviour.
- Observe how Venus interacts with solar radiation and charged particles from the Sun.
- Compare the evolution of Venus with Earth to understand why the two planets developed so differently.
Scientific Instruments on Board
- Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR): Used for high-resolution mapping and imaging of Venus’s surface.
- Thermal Imaging Cameras: Designed to record heat patterns and temperature changes.
- Atmospheric Sensors and Instruments: Intended to analyse atmospheric gases, circulation, and dynamics.
Key Technical Features of the Mission
- Aero-Braking Method :For the first time, ISRO plans to use the aero-braking technique during a planetary mission. In this process, the spacecraft will pass through the upper layers of Venus’s atmosphere repeatedly to gradually reduce its orbit. This method helps save a significant amount of fuel.
- Orbital Plan:The orbiter will first be placed in a highly elliptical orbit around Venus. Later, mission controllers will adjust it into a lower orbit to improve scientific observations and data collection.
Chandrayaan-3 mission
- Context:India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission has been honoured with the prestigious 2026 Goddard Astronautics Award by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), presented in Washington DC on May 21.
About Chandrayaan-3 mission
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- Chandrayaan-3 is India’s third lunar mission and the country’s second attempt at a soft landing on the Moon.
- It was designed mainly to demonstrate safe and soft landing, rover mobility on the lunar surface, and in-situ scientific experiments.
- The mission was launched by ISRO on 14 July 2023 and achieved a successful soft landing on 23 August 2023 near the Moon’s south polar region, making India the first country to soft-land near this region and the fourth country overall to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
The mission objectives of Chandrayaan-3 were
- To demonstrate safe and soft landing on the lunar surface
- To demonstrate rover roving on the Moon
- To conduct in-situ scientific experiments on the lunar surface
- Components of Chandrayaan-3: Propulsion Module, Lander Module named Vikram, Rover named Pragyan
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- Launch details :Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, using the LVM3 launch vehicle.
- Landing achievement :The Vikram lander successfully soft-landed on 23 August 2023. This achievement made India
- The first country to land near the lunar south polar region.
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- The fourth country to soft-land on the Moon after the Soviet Union, the United States, and China
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- Landing site:The landing took place near the lunar south polar region. This region is scientifically important because it contains permanently shadowed craters and areas where water ice may exist or survive for long durations.
- Payloads on the lander
- ChaSTE – Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment
- ILSA – Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity
- RAMBHA-LP – Radio Anatomy of Moon Bound Hypersensitive Ionosphere and Atmosphere – Langmuir Probe
- Payloads on the rover
- LIBS – Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope
- APXS – Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer
- Scientific findings
- LIBS confirmed the presence of sulphur on the lunar surface through direct in-situ measurement
- APXS detected elements such as aluminium, sulphur, calcium, iron, chromium, titanium, manganese, silicon, and oxygen-related signatures in the soil and rocks
- ChaSTE made the first in-situ observations of the temperature profile of the lunar topsoil near the south polar region.
