Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) chairman K Sivan has acknowledged there is a feeling that very little happened in the space agency in 2021 “primarily due to less number of launches”. But he highlighted that Isro undertook many technology development initiatives, and planned for the next decade of space activities during the “lull period”.
In a new year message posted on Isro website, Sivan gave details about the agency’s plans for the future and the much-awaited Gaganyaan mission.
“India’s flagship Gaganyaan project has completed the design phase and has entered into the testing phase,” Sivan said.
“Tests are in progress for human rated Ll 10 Vikas engine, Cryogenic stage, Crew escape system motors and service module propulsion system,” he added.
Gaganyaan is India’s first human space mission and was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018 and was expected to take off on the Independence Day this year. But the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic led to a delay.
However, Sivan said that efforts are on to meet the schedule.
“There is a directive to launch the first unmanned mission before the 75th anniversary of India’s independence (August 15, 2022) and all the stake-holders are putting their best effort to meet the schedule. I am sure that we will be able to meet this target,” Sivan said in his message.
The Isro chief informed that three new space missions are in the pipeline – ‘DISHA’, a twin aeronomy satellite mission, Venus mission and ISRO-CNES joint science mission ‘TRISHNA’. TRISHNA mission is meant for accurate mapping of land surface temperatures. This mission would be the benchmark for providing temperature data at best resolution and repeatability even globally, Sivan said.
On space sector reforms, Sivan, also Secretary in the Department of Space, noted that the government has already approved them for expanding the footprint of space industry not only within India but also globally. “Towards this, many policies have been revised after due process to accommodate the reforms,” he added.
Plans for 2022
Sivan said that Isro will execute many missions this year. “Some of these are launch of EOS-4 and EOS-6 on board PSLV, launch of EOS02 on board maiden flight of SSLV, many test flights for Crew Escape System of Gaganyaan and Launch of the first unmanned mission of Gaganyaan,” he said.
“In addition, we also have Chandrayaan-03, Aditya Ll, XpoSat, IRNSS and technology demonstration missions with advanced indigenously developed technologies on-board,” said Sivan.
About India’s proposed mission to Venus
India’s mission to Venus, named Shukrayaan, is expected to be launched in 2024. If that window is missed, the next opportunity will be available in 2026.
Shukrayaan will study Venus for four years.
According to Isro, scientific objectives of Venus mission are investigation of the surface processes and shallow subsurface stratigraphy; and solar wind interaction with Venusian Ionosphere, and studying the structure, composition and dynamics of the atmosphere.
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.
Exploration of Venus began in the early 1960s. It has been explored by flyby, a few lander missions and atmospheric probes.
Last year, ISRO had only two successful PSLV missions, including the one dedicated commercial mission by its commercial arm New Space India Limited (NSIL). The GSLV-F10 mission failed due to cryogenic stage anomaly.