Chandrayaan 2 launched: Here are future ISRO missions to space

As India successfully began its second mission to the Moon —to explore its dark side— with Chandrayaan 2 being placed in Earth’s orbit, the India Research and Space Organisation (ISRO) is not resting anytime soon. The agency is already heading to its next mission, launching its spacecraft to Venus and the most daring, a manned mission to space. Follow Chandrayaan-2 launch Live Updates

ISRO had recently announced seven scientific missions in the next decade including the ambitious Gaganyan, its first manned mission to space. The next decade will commence with the launch of XPoSat to study cosmic radiation in 2020, Aditya L1 to the Sun in 2021, Mars Orbiter Mission-2 in 2022 among others.

Here are the future missions ISRO is working on

Aditya L-1 mission: The mission to the moon is ISRO’s most daring endeavour as it tries to understand and predict the climate change on Earth. The payloads will study the solar corona. The spacecraft, which is likely to be launched by mid-2020, will be placed in ‘halo orbit’ about 1.5 million km from Earth. ISRO has already defined the mission. According to ISRO, the project is approved and the satellite will be launched by PSLV-XL from Sriharikota. Aditya-1 was meant to observe only the solar corona.  The outer layers of the Sun, extending to thousands of km above the disc (photosphere) is termed as the corona.

XPoSat mission: The XPoSat, or the X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is a dedicated mission to study polarisation. The mission is scheduled for next year and the payload is being developed. With a mission life of five years, the spacecraft will carry Polarimeter Instrument in X-rays (POLIX) payload which will study the degree and angle of polarisation of bright X-ray sources in the energy range 5-30 keV.

Ganganyaan: Set to be undertaken by 2022, the project aims at sending a three-member crew to space for at least seven days. While the first human space flight demonstration is targeted to be completed within 40 months from the date of sanction, two unmanned flights will be carried out before that. The project was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech this year. The total fund requirement for the Gaganyaan Programme is within Rs 10,000 crore and includes the cost of technology development, flight hardware realisation and essential infrastructure elements.

Skhukryaan mission: After successfully completing the Mars mission, ISRO is looking forward to its second planetary mission Shuklrayaan. The mission will focus on studying the surface and subsurface of the planet. It is to be noted that Venus is known as the ‘twin sister’ of Earth and could offer several answers to its similarities with Earth’s mass, size, composition and gravity. The mission will be launched in 2023.

Mangalyaan 2: India had launched its first Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) on November 5, 2013 using PSLV-C25 rocket, the next MoM, Mangalyaan 2 is set to study the red planet’s surface, morphology, mineralogy and its atmosphere. Mangalyaan 2 will be featuring a much greater scientific payload compared to its predecessor and will be fitted with a lander and a rover in addition to the orbiter. Mangalyaan 1 carried five instruments on board with the main objective, which was the design and realisation of a Mars orbiter with a capability to survive and perform Earth bound manoeuvres, with a cruise phase of 300 days.