ISRO's next space adventure to Venus is now seeking proposals
ISRO has announced that it will start accepting proposals regarding space-based experiments to study Venus, as it gears up to accomplish its first voyage to the planet. "Space, the final frontier" as Star Trek says, has always fascinated humankind and ISRO has been making the nation proud for years. Here's all about its next big adventure to Venus.
ISROs next big space adventure
Despite a number of past expeditions, a vast amount of information about Venus is still unknown according to ISRO and, therefore, it has decided to green light this mission. NASA-affiliated Michael M Watkins said that ISRO's mission to Venus could be pivotal in understanding the planet and NASA would like to extend a helping hand, if ISRO needs it.
Announcement of Opportunity for the mission
This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) has a deadline of May 19 and "those sending proposals may be currently involved in planetary exploration studies / the development of science instruments for space/willing to develop the experiments." Although, no time frame has been set for ISRO's maiden voyage to Venus, but chances are it will happen post-2020.
A maiden voyage to study all about Venus
According to ISRO, the payload capacity of the proposed satellite is going to be 175 kg and it will have 500W of power. However, these numbers might change by the time the final configuration is chalked out. The proposed orbit is supposed to be about 500*60,000 km around the planet and is expected to be reduced slowly over months.
Venus, "twin sister" of the Earth
Venus, the third planet from the Sun, is often considered to be the sister planet of Earth due to both of its similarities in terms of size, density mass, and volume. It is also believed that both of these planets have a common origin and they both were formed out of a condensing nebulosity at the same time around 4.5 billion years ago.
Future missions of ISRO
ISRO Chairman A S Kiran had said that not only a first Venus mission but also a second Mars mission is in the pipeline. Meanwhile, ISRO is set to launch its second lunar mission Chandrayaan 2 in the first quarter of 2018. ISRO also plans to launch a mission to the Sun via a probe called Aditya in 2019-20.
India's eventful history in space explorations
India's first ever Mars probe, Mangalayaan spacecraft was launched by ISRO on November 5, 2013, and it reached the red planet on September 24, 2014. Chandrayaan 1, India's first lunar probe was launched in 2008 by ISRO and was operational until August 2009. On February 15 this year ISRO launched 104 satellites into the orbit around the Earth, making a world record.
New York Times, ISRO and the so called 'Elite Club'
In October 2014, NYT mocked India's successful Mars mission by publishing a cartoon that showed an Indian man knocking the doors of 'Elite Space Club' with a cow. However, following ISRO's record-breaking launch of 104 satellites, retaliation came in form of a cartoon where the elites stood knocking at the door while the same Indian man was inside the club with his cow.
