ISRO's Massive Upcoming Space Mission

The missions of the Indian space agency has lined up in the coming years is very big. Indians were disappointed after the failure of soft landing on the moon surface of the Vikram lander and Pragyan rover of ISRO’s CHANDRAYAAN-2. But ISRO believes that “success belongs to those who make the hardest attempts.” Therefore, ISRO is planning several determined space missions in the upcoming years as Indians scientists think that they have the guts to touch space with glory. In this view, ISRO is conducting some important space missions. Thus several schools and institutions have attempted to create a better education structure to look after more intelligent scientists of India. Let’s end the curiosity and be informed about the significant space missions that ISRO is working on.

(1) REACHING FOR THE SUN - ADITYA-L1 MISSION BY APRIL 2020

To study the Sun, Aditya-I is the first enthusiastic scientific space mission by ISRO. To understand the 3 layers of the Sun namely, Photosphere, Chromosphere and Corona, A 400 kg class space telescope will be placed into a halo orbit which is 1.5 million km away from the Earth. As we know, that the outer atmosphere of the Sun is almost 200 times hotter than the main solar disc, this space mission will try to understand the outer atmosphere of the star in our solar system and maybe find the reason behind this kind of variation. The Aditya-I satellite is expected to be launched by April 2020.

ISRO's ADITYA-L1 satellite to study the Sun (photo: indiatoday.in)

(2) LOOKING AT CELESTIAL BODIES - X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite, 2021

The degree and direction of X-ray photons from at least 50 potential celestial sources will estimate by this satellite. Raman Research Institute has taken the project to build the different instruments of this satellite. The collected data by this satellite may help us to understand the temperature, density, and compositions of isolated celestial bodies. This X-ray polarimeter satellite will be launched in the circular lower Earth orbit, about 500-700 km over Earth.

X-Ray Polarimeter Satellite, 2021

(3) GAGANYAAN MISSION - December 2021 / January 2022 (Manned space mission)

ISRO’s upcoming mission “GAGANYAAN” will try to land a human being on the planet Mars. India will send astronauts on this spacecraft to land on Mars. Three Indian astronauts are expected to take off to space in India’s first human space flight mission. By this mission, India will achieve such a great achievement in a space mission that will make India the fourth nation of the world to do so, nearly four decades after Rakesh Sharma completed his journey on a Russian rocket in 1984. The total estimated cost of this mission is around Rs. 9,000 crores (1.31 billion USD). Indian astronauts are trained to live in a space capsule for the week-long mission by the Russians space scientist.

Gaganyaan is believed to be one of the strongest and biggest space missions in India so far. This space mission will be a very long duration mission and thus, a crew module will be created to give the astronauts a proper life support system so that it can support them to stay alive in space. Along with this life-supporting situation, a control system is also being developed. This space mission has the highest priority of ISRO’s all upcoming missions. A Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mk-3, an advance version of the rocket as similar, as used in Chandrayaan-2 mission to the Moon, will fly the astronauts. The fighter pilots of the Indian Air Force is selected to fly to space.

ISRO Confirms Gaganyaan - Manned Space Mission With 3 Crew Members (Photo: darpanmagazine.com)

(4) MANGALYAAN 2 by 2022-2023 (or the Mars Orbiter Mission 2) - Back to Mars

ISRO plans to go again to Mars through MANGALYAAN 2 mission. After the successful attempt of Mangalyaan (the first Mars mission), ISRO is prompted to take the second attempt to send Mangalyaan 2 by 2023 to explore Mars more details. This mission will carry out deeper studies of our neighbour red planet to understand the evolution of Mars. This significant second space mission by ISRO will be an orbiter mission and conducted in 2022-2023 and thus there is no Lander or Rover. Mission Mangalyaan 2 will utilize aerobraking which reduces the early apoapsis in order to enter the orbit and make more appropriate observations. Mangalyaan 2 is basically the MOM-2 of ISRO’s MOM-1 achievement and the government of India has provided more funds to complete this mission effectively.

Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (Photo: ISRO)

(5) SHUKRAYAAN - Mission to Venus by 2023-2025

After mission Mars, another important neighbouring planet Venus is considered to be exploring by ISRO. This will take shape by 2025 as it considers being able to provide a habitable place like Earth. Venus is also known as the twin sister of Earth based on its size, density compositions and gravity, as some theories suggest that the origin of both Earth and Venus was common in respect of times, almost 4.5 million years ago. For a comprehensive study of the planet Venus, ISRO is planning to send an orbiter satellite to understand the atmospheric structure and weather of this planet and whether there could be a possibility of life or not. The Indian space agency will send the spacecraft (SHUKRAYAAN) almost 400 km over the Venus surface.

Representational Image (Image: Pleasant Personal Blog)

(6) India’s Own Space Station By 2023

ISRO is going to launch another revolutionary project by 2023-2025 and that is India’s own space station. ISRO chairman K Sivan stated that this space station can host people for at least 15-20 days in the space and can hold 15-20 tonnes of weight.  This upcoming mission can build a new history and records of Indian space research. This space station can help Indian astronauts stay a long time in space for doing their research and experiments. China is also planning to build a large space station in the lower Earth orbit.

Representative India’s Own Space Station (Image: www.forevernews.in)

(7) DRILLING WITH JAPAN - Moon Mission, 2023

ISRO and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency jointly wants to send a spacecraft to the Moon’s South Pole. The mission has the planning to land a rover that will drill the Moon’s surface to conduct more prominent scientific experiments. The primary focus of this mission will be to investigate the existence of water. India is likely to contribute with a lander, while Japan is likely to supply the rocket and a lunar rover for this moon mission, and that will be a follow-up of Chandrayaan-2. It would explore the suitability of the location to establish a sustainable lunar base.

Representational Image (Photo: www.theburnin.com)

(8) ORIGINS OF THE UNIVERSE - Astrosat-2, 2025

Indian space research organization is planning to send another (Astrosat-2) observatory in the space. This project will be a follow-up mission of Astrosat-1 which is India's first dedicated multi-wavelength space telescope. Astrosat-2 is set to look after the origin and evolution of the universe and discover new planets. ISRO is going to complete a proper plan for this mission within 2025.

An artistic rendering of the AstroSat satellite. Image courtesy: ISRO

Source References:

➲ https://www.youthkiawaaz.com/2019/10/5-important-future-space-mission-of-isro-after-2019/

➲ https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/science/isros-big-space-plans-take-a-look-at-the-missions-the-space-agency-has-lined-up-in-the-coming-years/drilling-with-japan/slideshow/71032412.cms