India’s mission to Venus drew a step closer to reality this week with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) inviting proposals from scientists across the country experiments to conduct experiments on the yellow planet.
ISRO’s mission goal is to carry 175 kg of scientific payload that would consume around 500 W of power. This is 10 times more than the scientific payload carried by the MOM. Mars orbiter’s payload weighed only 15 kg.
The orbit will be 500 X 60,000 km around Venus, which will gradually reduce over several months. Scientists have until May 19 to submit proposals.
The focus of the mission will be atmospheric and surface studies, Sun-Venus interaction, biology experiments and technology demonstration, says a Times of India report.
The report further quoted an ISRO official saying that though it is an approved mission, the date of the launch is yet to be decided. India’s mission to Venus has been listed as part of the department of space’s demand for grants.
Explaining the importance of this flight, ISRO said that Venus is 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 were formed at the same time around 4.5 billion years ago," ISRO stated.
According to ISRO, the exploration of Venus began in the early 1960s with fly by and lander missions and atmospheric probes.
"In spite of great progress made in exploring Venus, there still exist gaps in our understanding about surface, sub-surface features and processes, and super rotation of the Venusian atmosphere, its evolution and interaction with solar radiation solar wind," ISRO stated.
