ISRO sets sights on Sun, Venus and Mars: Successful moon landing boosts India's space ambitions

As mentioned before, Aditya L1 will be the first space based Indian mission to study the Sun. "The sun is the nearest star and therefore can be studied in much more detail as compared to other stars. By studying the sun we can learn much more about stars in our Milky Way as well as about stars in various other galaxies," ISRO said on its website.

The spacecraft carries seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost layers of the Sun (the corona) using electromagnetic and particle and magnetic field detectors. Using the special vantage point L1, four payloads will directly view the Sun and the remaining three payloads would carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the L1, thus providing important scientific studies of the propagatory effect of solar dynamics in the interplanetary medium.

The major study objectives include:

• ​Study of Solar upper atmospheric (chromosphere and corona) dynamics.
• Study of chromospheric and coronal heating, physics of the partially ionized plasma, initiation of the coronal mass ejections, and flares
• Observe the in-situ particle and plasma environment providing data for the study of particle dynamics from the Sun.
• Physics of solar corona and its heating mechanism.
• Diagnostics of the coronal and coronal loops plasma: Temperature, velocity and density.
• Development, dynamics and origin of CMEs.
• Identify the sequence of processes that occur at multiple layers (chromosphere, base and extended corona) which eventually leads to solar eruptive events.
• Drivers for space weather (origin, composition and dynamics of solar wind .
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

"Mostly September first week," an ISRO official told PTI when asked about the date of the launch. The spacecraft is expected to be placed in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, which is about 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. A satellite placed in the halo orbit around the L1 point has a major advantage of continuously viewing the Sun without any occultation/eclipses, ISRO noted. "This will provide a greater advantage of observing the solar activities and its effect on space weather in real time," it said.

A collaboration between ISRO and NASA, the NISAR mission is scheduled for January 2024. NISAR is a low-earth orbit observatory mission, which will map the earth once every 12 days. With an estimated project cost of $1.5 billion, the mission will provide data for "understanding changes in Earth’s ecosystems, ice mass, vegetation biomass, sea level rise, ground water and natural hazards including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides."

A short form of space docking experiment, the Spadex project of ISRO is a twin spacecraft mission to mature technologies related to orbital rendezvous, docking, formation flying, with scope of applications in human spaceflight, in-space satellite servicing and other proximity operations. The mission cost is projected at Rs 124.47 crore. The launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2024.

The second mission to Mars, Mangalyaan 2, also called the Mars Orbiter Mission 2, will be an inter-planetary mission by ISRO with a planned launch date in 2024. The spacecraft will carry "a hyperspectral camera, a high resolution panchromatic camera and a radar to understand early Martian crust, recent basalts and boulder falls."

Gaganyaan project envisages demonstration of human spaceflight capability by launching crew of 3 members to an orbit of 400 km for a 3 days mission and bring them back safely to earth, by landing in Indian sea waters. Gaganyaan 3 would be India's first human space mission. This mission is scheduled for a 2024 launch.

Shukrayaan is a planned orbiter to Venus to study the surface and atmosphere of the planet. It has a projected launch date of 2024-end. ISRO is also working on its very own space tourism project, where one can explore the space by purchasing a single ticket worth Rs 6 crore. The project is estimated to open by 2030.