Isro now aiming for Sun; Venus also on cards: PM Modi

With India reaching the moon, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that travelling to Venus is on the radar of the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is set to explore the Sun in its next mission – Aditya-L1.

“Isro is soon going to launch the ‘Aditya L-1’ mission for a detailed study of the Sun. Venus is also on the radar,” the Prime Minister said addressing the Isro scientists and engineers after the successful landing of Chandrayaan-3.

“We’ll test the limits of our solar system, and work to realise the infinite possibilities of the universe for humans. India is proving again and again that the sky is not the limit.”

“India has reached the South Pole of the Moon where no country could reach to date with the dedication and talent of our scientists. This moment is unforgettable, unprecedented,” Modi said.

Conceived by former chairman U R Rao, the proposed Venus mission has generated a lot of curiosity in India and abroad because barely anyone has plans to go to the second planet in the Solar system.

The space agency is working on the initial contours of the venus mission, discussing with astrophysicists on what the payloads would be and trying to secure budgetary support for the ambitious mission.

The initial idea was to have an orbiter and a drone like probe that will be released from the orbiting spacecraft. The drone flyby will travel towards the extremely hot planet with the scientists hoping that it will send some information before being burnt.

The Aditya-L1 mission is another ambitious programme, which was in the drawing board and development stage for a very long time. The probe has been moved to the spaceport in Sriharikota, and a launch is expected sometime in September.

The solar mission is a unique one in which a 400 kg class satellite carrying the payload will be placed in an orbit around the Sun in such a way so that it can continuously view the star without any occultation or eclipses during which the Sun is hidden by other planetary bodies. The orbit would be located 1.5 million km away from the Earth.

It will explore processes that lead to changes in the Sun's radiation output in the near ultraviolet and X-rays which can influence the Earth's upper atmosphere and climate and monitor the properties of solar plasma wind and solar storms just before they impact the Earth's space environment and orbiting satellites,

The Prime Minister is in South Africa for the BRICS summit but telephoned Isro chairman S Somanath, immediately after the touchdown. Within minutes he spoke to the Isro scientists and engineers on a video link.

Referring to a popular nursery rhyme he said the Moon was considered very distant and referred to as ‘Chanda Mama dur ke’, but the time was not far when the children would say ‘Chanda Mama ek tour ke’ i.e. the moon would only be a tour away.