Isro invites proposals for Venus Mission

Plans to develop a 175 kg satellite to study the second planet from the Sun

The Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is planning to develop a 175 kg satellite to study Venus, the second planet from the Sun.

Isro officials have said the mission to Venus is on the horizon and studies are underway.

"Solar system studies have seen a remarkable growth in the past few decades due to advances in space technology, observational capabilities and computational technologies. This has enhanced our knowledge and understanding of the diversity of complex processes across the Solar system. It is quite interesting to find clues as to how the planetary systems might have originated and evolved, and how they are different and similar to each other," said Isro.

Venus is often described as the twin sister of the Earth because of the similarities in size, mass, density, bulk composition and gravity.

It is believed that both planets share a common origin, forming at the same time out of a condensing nebulosity around 4.5 billion years ago.

Venus is around 30 per cent closer to the sun as compared to Earth, resulting in much higher solar flux. Exploration of Venus began in the early 1960s. Venus has been explored by flyby, orbiter, a few lander missions and atmospheric probes.

In spite of great progress made in exploring Venus, gaps still exist in our basic understanding about surface/sub-surface features and processes, super rotation of Venusian atmosphere and its evolution and interaction with solar radiation/solar wind, said Isro.

Isro has invited proposals from scientists within India for this space based experiments. This Announcement of Opportunity (AO) is addressed to all institutions in India including the those who are involved in planetary exploration studies / the development of science instruments for space / willing to develop the experiments.

The Principal Investigator of the proposal should provide necessary details of the instrument which can address the scientific problems and be capable of bringing together the instrument team and lead the team for developing a space qualified instrument, said Isro.

The proposed orbit is expected to be around 500 x 60,000 km around Venus. This orbit is likely to be reduced gradually, over several months.

It may be noted, on September 24, 2014, Isro had successfully placed its low-cost Mars spacecraft in orbit around the Red Planet on its very first attempt.

Isro is expected to launch its second lunar mission Chandrayaan-2 during the first quarter of 2018.