The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Chairperson, S Somanath, stated on Friday that while the Gaganyaan mission is set for launch by the end of the year, caution is paramount. Gaganyaan, India's inaugural human spaceflight mission, received approval from the Union cabinet earlier this week. Somanath remarked, “I don’t want what happened to the Boeing Starliner, so we should be very careful.”
The Boeing Starliner spacecraft's first test flight, launched by NASA on June 5, returned to Earth on September 7 without its astronauts. Unforeseen circumstances necessitated an extended stay in the International Space Station for astronauts Sunita Williams and Butch Wilmore, who will now be picked up by SpaceX Crew Dragon in February.
ISRO Chief Somanath On Venus Orbiter Mission
Emphasising the significance of exploring Venus, Somanath noted that the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM) is among the four projects recently approved by the Union cabinet, with a budget allocation of Rs 1,236 crore, news agency PTI reported. “Tomorrow, Earth may become inhabitable due to some reasons. So if you do not study what is happening on Mars and Venus, possibly our future generation will be affected,” he explained, adding that India’s successful missions to Mars and the Moon make the Venus mission crucial.
He also mentioned the timeline for developing the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), which will take seven years. Since the Venus mission is slated for launch in March 2028, it will utilise existing vehicles, specifically the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3). “Russia, China, and Japan are also sending missions to Venus by 2030. So, by 2028, we have decided to launch our Venus mission from LVM3,” Somanath stated.
Discussing the challenges of the Venus mission, the ISRO chief highlighted, “Though we went to Mars, which is a little far away earlier, Venus is closer, but it is more challenging than Mars. Because the atmosphere of Venus has 100 times more pressure than that of Earth.”
The upcoming Venus mission will be India’s second interplanetary venture, following the successful Mars Orbiter Mission launched on November 5, 2013, which entered Martian orbit on September 24, 2014. Somanath expressed enthusiasm for the growing popularity of the Space Expo and the increasing interest from startups in the space sector. “When I saw some of the stalls today, I was really impressed by the work done by the industries. The transition has already happened. Today, we can see many startups building their own satellites. This is the change we are seeing,” he concluded.