It's been a week since India proudly launched Chandrayaan-3 successfully in its quest to become only the fourth nation after the US, Russia, and China to land on the moon.
But our country can have more of these proud moments in the coming years with the upcoming missions of ISRO.
As ISRO's ambitious moon mission?Chandrayaan-3?continues on its path, let's look at ISRO's next six missions and their costs.??
Expected cost: Rs 378 crore
Aditya L1 is the first space-based observatory-class Indian solar mission to study the Sun.?The spacecraft is planned to be placed in a halo orbit around Lagrangian point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million km from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has the major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation or eclipse. This will provide a greater advantage than observing the solar activities continuously.?
The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere, and outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle detectors. Using the special vantage point of L1, four payloads about AdiTya-L1 directly view the sun, and the remaining three payloads carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at Lagrange Point L1.
The Aditya L1 payloads are expected to provide crucial information to understand the problems of coronal heating, Coronal Mass Ejection, pre-flare and flare activities, and their characteristics, the dynamics of space?weather, the study of the propagation of particles, fields in the interplanetary medium, etc.
Major objectives?
? Understanding the Coronal Heating and Solar Wind Acceleration.?
? Understanding the initiation of Coronal Mass ejections (CME), flares, and near-earth space weather.?
? To understand the coupling and dynamics of the solar atmosphere.
? To understand solar wind distribution and temperature anisotropy.
Uniqueness of the mission?
? First spatially resolved solar disk in the near UV band.?
? CME dynamics close to the solar disk (~ from 1.05 solar radius) and thereby providing information in the acceleration regime of CME that is not observed consistently.?
? On-board intelligence to detect CMEs and solar flares for optimised observations and data volume.?
? Directional and energy anisotropy.
Also Read:?ISRO?Plans To Start 'Space Tourism' At The Cost Of ?6 Crore Per?Passenger By 2030
Expected cost: $1.5 billion (approx. 12,296 crore).
NASA-ISRO SAR (NISAR) is a low-earth orbit (LEO) observatory being jointly developed by NASA and ISRO.?NISAR will map the entire globe in 12 days and provide spatially and temporally consistent data for understanding changes in Earth¡¯s ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, groundwater, and natural hazards, including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, and landslides.
As per ISRO, this flagship partnership would have major contributions from both agencies. NASA is responsible for providing the L-Band SAR payload system, while ISRO supplied the S-Band SAR payload, and both of these SAR systems will make use of a large (about 12m diameter) common unfurlable reflector antenna. In addition, NASA would provide engineering payloads for the mission, including a Payload Data Subsystem, a high-rate Science Downlink System, GPS receivers, and a solid-state recorder.
The NISAR Observatory will be launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) SHAR, Sriharikota, on the southeast coast of the Indian peninsula, on the GSLV expendable launch vehicle contributed by ISRO. The target launch readiness date is January 2024. And the NISAR observatory will be launched from Indian Soil in the first quarter of 2024.
The launch sequence encompasses the time interval that takes the observatory from the ground, encapsulated in the launch vehicle fairing, to after separation and ends with the completion of solar array deployment and the observatory in an Earth-pointed attitude and in two-way communication with the ground. The launch sequence is a critical event.
Expected cost: Rs 124 crore
SPADEX, or Space Docking Experiment, is a?twin spacecraft mission?being developed by ISRO to mature technologies related to orbital rendezvous, docking, formation flying, and other proximity operations with a scope of applications in human spaceflight, in-space satellite servicing, and other proximity operations.
The SPADEX campaign would consist of two IMS-class (200 kg) satellites, one being Chaser and the other Target, and both would be launched as co-passengers or auxiliary payloads. Both spacecraft would be injected into slightly different orbits.
The Space Docking Experiment is currently scheduled for launch from Satish Dhawan Space Centre aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Objectives
-Autonomous rendezvous and docking
-Controlling one spacecraft with the attitude control system of another spacecraft while in docked configuration.
-Formation flying
-Remote robotic arm operations
With preliminary studies done in 2016, the Space Docking Experiment was approved by the Government of India, with initial funding of Rs 10 crore cleared in 2017. In June 2019, ISRO was looking for proposals to study remote robotic arm operation, rendezvous, and docking-related technologies on its PSLV fourth stage (PS4) orbital platform.
As per Wikipedia, SPADEX has been sanctioned ?124.47 crore in funding and is aiming for launch in the third quarter of 2024.
Expected cost: Not disclosed yet
Mars Orbiter Mission 2, also called?Mangalyaan-2, is India's second interplanetary mission planned by ISRO.?ISRO plans to launch this mission by 2024.?
It had been mentioned that Mangalyaan-2 would be launched after moon?mission Chandrayaan-3. The mission will reportedly include a hyperspectral camera, a high-resolution panchromatic camera, and a radar to understand early Martian crust, recent basalts, and boulder falls.? ?
Also Read:?India's Space Economy To Be?Worth?Nearly $13 Billion By 2025
Expected cost: Rs 9023 crore
Gaganyaan, India's first human space mission, is set to launch in 2024.?The unmanned ¡®G1 mission¡¯ will launch in the fourth quarter of 2023, the second unmanned ¡®G2 mission¡¯ will launch in the second quarter of 2024, and the?final human space flight 'H1 mission¡¯ will launch in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Expected cost: Rs 500 crore¨CRs 1,000 crore
Earlier this year, P. Sreekumar, the Satish Dhawan Professor at ISRO?and advisor to its space science programme, said that?ISRO¡¯s Venus mission, called Shukrayaan I, was expected to be launched in December 2024. The idea was born more than a decade ago, in 2012.
Optimal launch windows from Earth to Venus occur once every 19 months. This is why ISRO has ¡®backup¡¯ launch dates in 2026 and 2028 should it miss the 2024 opportunity. But even more optimal windows, which further reduce the amount of fuel required at liftoff, come around every eight years.
Sreekumar, speaking at an?Indo-French astronomy meeting?at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru, said "right now the?2031 window is very good", as per The Hindu report. He added that the mission is "waiting for formal approval and money", which are required before spacecraft assembly and testing.
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