Missions of ISRO

In News

• Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is gearing up for a number of missions in 2022.

Missions Planned

• Venus Mission:
  • The Shukrayaan-1 could launch in December 2024 as an orbiter headed towards neighbouring planet Venus.
  • This will be the Indian space agency’s first mission to Venus, and is expected to have a mission life of 4 years. 
  • During this time, multiple instruments will carry out studies on the planet.
  • If it misses the 2024 deadline, then the next window for launch will be in mid-2026 when Venus and Earth realign. This is important for spacecraft fuel efficiency when visiting other planets. 
  • The Venus orbiter will be launched on the rockets made by ISRO.
• DISHA (Disturbed and quiet-type System at High Altitude):
  • It is a twin-satellite system that will study Earth’s aeronomy, the uppermost layer of Earth’s atmosphere.
  • It will involve twin satellites orbiting Earth at an altitude of 450km. 
• TRISHNA (Thermal infraRed Imaging Satellite for High resolution Natural resource Assessment):

• ISRO and CNES have completed the feasibility study to realise the earth observation satellite mission with thermal infrared imager, TRISHNA.
• It is meant for accurate mapping of land surface temperatures.
• It will acquire imagery of Earth’s surface in the thermal infrared with a resolution and revisit frequency never seen before.
• Expected launch: in 2024
• India and France are working on their third joint satellite mission. 
• ISRO and French space agency CNES (Centre National dEtudes Spatiales) have undertaken two joint missions ‘Megha-Tropiques‘, which was launched in 2011, and ‘Saral-Altika‘ in 2013.

• Chandrayaan-3: 
  • It could be set for a launch date by the middle of 2023 with huge progress in incorporating design and testing. 
  • It is the third Moon mission of the ISRO and successor of Chandrayaan-2 mission.
  • It involves various processes, including finalisation of configuration, subsystems realisation, integration, spacecraft level detailed testing and a number of special tests to evaluate the system performance on earth. 
  • Progress was hampered due to Covid-19 pandemic.
• Gaganyaan
  • India’s first human spaceflight mission.
  • It  is expected in 2023. 
  • The spacecraft is jointly made by ISRO and HAL.
  • It will carry three Indian astronauts to low earth orbit (of 2000 km or less) for a period of five to seven days.
• Other Missions: XpoSat, IRNSS

Significance

• These missions are critical for ISRO as it will demonstrate India’s capabilities to make landings for further interplanetary missions.
• These missions will be the benchmark for temperature data at best resolution and repeatability globally.
• These will be technology demonstration missions with advanced indigenously developed technologies.

Challenges

• Constraints: ISRO has scientific, technological, infrastructure and budgetary constraints in launching significantly more satellites to meet civilian, commercial needs and military requirements. 
• Deficit: ISRO has deficit issues both in technical capacity and manpower placing constraints on its production strength.
• Foreign competition: Particularly for the launch of small satellites, which is an expanding market. The Elon Musk owned SpaceX Falcon 9 is widely considered a serious potential threat to ISRO’s workhorse the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). 

Way Ahead

• India is advantaged by its comparatively low operating costs. Removing regulatory blockages will pave the way for increased FDI into the sector.
• ISRO can pave the way for commercialization of small satellites by the private sector. 

Source: TH