Shukrayaan I : Venus mission
An advisor to the space science programme recently said that the Indian Space Research Organisation is yet to receive approval from the Indian government for the Venus mission and that the mission could as a result be postponed to 2031.
SHUKRAYAAN-1:
- It is also called the Venus Mission.
- The Shukrayaan I mission will be an orbiter mission.
- Its scientific payloads currently include a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and a ground-penetrating radar.
- The mission is expected to study Venus’s geological and volcanic activity, emissions on the ground, wind speed, cloud cover, and other planetary characteristics from an elliptical orbit.
- Optimal launch windows from Earth to Venus occur once every 19 months.
- Venus is often called “Earth’s twin” because they’re similar in size and structure, but Venus has extreme surface heat and a dense, toxic atmosphere.
- It rotates very slowly on its axis – one day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days.
- The thick atmosphere of Venus traps heat creating a runaway greenhouse effect – making it the hottest planet in our solar system.
- Phosphine, a possible indicator of microbial life, has been observed in the clouds of Venus.
