ISRO likely to push Venus mission ‘Shukrayaan I’ to 2031

Source: The post is based on the article “ISRO likely to push Venus mission ‘Shukrayaan I’ to 2031” published in The Hindu on 16th January 2023.

What is the News?

Indian Space Research Organisation(ISRO) was yet to receive approval from the Union government for the Shukrayaan-1 mission and that the mission could as a result be postponed to 2031.

What is Shukrayaan-1?

Shukrayaan-1 is a proposed mission of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to Venus.

Aim: To study Venus’s geological and volcanic activity, emissions on the ground, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary characteristics from an elliptical orbit.

Payloads: Shukrayaan I will be an orbiter mission. Its scientific payloads currently include a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and a ground-penetrating radar. 

When is Shukrayaan-1 going to be launched?

Shukrayaan I was expected to be launched in December 2024. But it has now been postponed.

Optimal launch windows from earth to Venus occur once around every 19 months. This is why ISRO has “back-up” launch dates in 2026 and 2028, should it miss the 2024 opportunity. 

But even more optimal windows, which further reduce the amount of fuel required at lift-off, come around every eight years. Hence, the mission is now expected to be launched in 2031.