After India's success with Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation has announced the launch date for its next space exploration - the Venus Orbiter Mission.
As per the announcement from the Indian space agency, the Venus Orbiter Mission will be launched on March 29, 2028, and will take a total of 112 days to travel to Venus.
The mission and spacecraft is called Shukrayaan-1 and will mark India's first mission to explore the inner planet.
India's First Venus Mission - What We Know About Shukrayaan-1
The Venus Orbiter Mission will carry 19 scientific instruments, also known as payloads. The VOM will be launched onboard ISRO's LVM-3 rocket for its orbit around Venus.
The mission will work towards the exploration of Venus' atmosphere, its surface, and the planet's interaction with the Sun.
As per ISRO, a total of 16 Indian payloads, two international collaborative payloads and one international payload will be onboard the Venus Orbiter Mission.
"Key scientific objectives include examining dust in the Venusian atmosphere, mapping its surface topography in high resolution, studying the solar X-ray spectrum near Venus, analysing Venusian airglow, and investigating sub-surface characteristics. Additionally, the mission will serve as a technology demonstration for ISRO, testing aerobraking and thermal management techniques in the harsh Venusian environment,” said the Indian space agency.
What All Will The VOM Be Equipped With?
The Venus Orbiter will be equipped with a plethora of scientific instruments to help achieve its mission. Some of these are -
VSAR (Venus S-Band Synthetic Aperture Radar) - to search for active volcanism and map Venus.
VSEAM (Venus Surface Emissivity and Atmospheric Mapper) - to study the planet's atmosphere such as volcanic hotspots, cloud structure and more.
VTC (Venus Thermal Camera) - to map the thermal emissions from Venusian clouds.
VCMC (Venus Cloud Monitoring Camera) - to study wave phenomena and lightning on the planet.
LIVE (Lightning Instrument for Venus) - to detect electrical activity in the planet's atmosphere and plasma emissions.
VASP (Venus Atmospheric Spectropolarimeter) - to investigate cloud properties and global circulation.
SPAV (Solar Occultation Photometry) - to measure the vertical distribution of aerosols and haze in Venus’s mesosphere.
Among the 19 payloads, VIRAL (Venus InfraRed Atmospheric gases Linker) is the instrument developed by Russia. The two collaborative payloads are the Venus Ionospheric and Solar Wind particle AnalySer (VISWAS), which is a collaboration between ISRO's Space Physics Lab at VSSC and a Swedish institute.
Furthermore, the Radio Anatomy of Venus Ionosphere (RAVI), is a collaboration with Germany.
About The Launch
After its launch on March 29, 2028, the orbiter is expected to take 112 days to reach its destination. As per ISRO, VOM is expected to reach Venus on July 19, 2028.
As per ISRO, the LVM-3 will place the spacecraft in an Elliptical Parking Orbit (EPO) of 170km x 36,000 km at an 21.5° inclination and an Argument of Perigee (AOP). This will define the path of the spacecraft to the final destination of 178°.
"After the cruise phase, Venus Orbit Injection (VOI) will be at 500km x 60,000km. Aerobraking will be employed for over a period of 6 to 8 months from VOI to achieve the desired low altitude Science Orbit of 200km x 600km with an inclination of around 90º, to carry out proposed science studies for a period of 5 years,” the Indian space agency added further.
