Author Topic: India Planning Mission to Venus  (Read 30760 times)

Offline sanman

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India Planning Mission to Venus
« on: 02/18/2012 11:55 pm »
ISRO has announced that it is studying a possible mission to the planet Venus:

http://www.internationalreporter.com/News-8251/india-planning-venus-mission.html

It would probably be an orbital probe that makes use of RISAT technology to pierce Venus' thick cloud cover.

I think it would be cool if one day ISRO could land a probe on the surface of Venus. To date, one of the Soviet Venera (13?) spacecraft was the only one able to successfully touch down and send back pictures of the surface of Venus.

(colorized by artist):


I would like to see images and recordings of lightning in the Venusian atmosphere.

Offline Hungry4info3

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #1 on: 02/19/2012 12:10 am »
To date, one of the Soviet Venera (13?) spacecraft was the only one able to successfully touch down and send back pictures of the surface of Venus.

Venera 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 14 all landed safely on Venus. Of these, Venera 9, 10, 13 and 14 returned images.

You posted the Venera 13 image. I'll post the Venera 9, 10 and 14 images.
« Last Edit: 02/19/2012 12:16 am by Hungry4info3 »

Offline sanman

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #2 on: 02/19/2012 12:16 am »
Cool, I stand corrected.  :)

Offline Art LeBrun

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #3 on: 02/19/2012 12:20 am »
You really have to admire the Soviet dedication to Venus landing considering there was missing important data early on for spacecraft survival.
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Offline sanman

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Offline ChileVerde

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #5 on: 02/19/2012 02:15 am »

I think it would be cool if one day ISRO could land a probe on the surface of Venus. To date, one of the Soviet Venera (13?) spacecraft was the only one able to successfully touch down and send back pictures of the surface of Venus.


[Various snippages performed above.]

Yeah. Venus, because it's so hellish in comparison to Mars, seems to have gotten little respect, but I think some more surface probes would be worthwhile to figure out what's there and how it got that way. As well as being quite technologically challenging, of course.

How and why, for example, did the flat plates seen on the ground in the Venera picture get to be flat? Probably not sediment, but what?
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Offline sanman

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #6 on: 02/19/2012 03:33 am »
I dunno, ash chunks flattened down by the melting heat and the strong surface winds? Or maybe just lava channels carving out slabs?

The ISRO announcement says they'd primarily be looking at analyzing Venus' atmosphere. I'm not sure what stuff about Venus is well-known and what's least-known. Presumably, science missions should differentiate themselves by looking at stuff that hasn't been looked at umpteen times before.

Offline baldusi

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #7 on: 02/19/2012 10:54 am »
As I understand it is great for aerocapture, but we lack the necessary atmospheric models. More studies would help.

Offline sanman

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #8 on: 02/20/2012 08:44 am »
As I understand it is great for aerocapture, but we lack the necessary atmospheric models. More studies would help.

India's radar imaging satellite, RISAT-1, due to be launched next month, uses C-band for imaging (4.0-8.0Ghz), giving it all-weather capability. C-band would also be useful for penetrating the heavy cloud cover over Venus, to do a detailed mapping of the surface.

If aerocapture is relatively easy for Venus, then perhaps an orbiting probe could drop a tiny instrument package with heat-shield and parachute. India has already done a Space Recovery Experiment, SRE-1, where a heat-shielded capsule was de-orbited and recovered from the ocean.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SRE-1

All they'd have to do for Venus is to make a tinier stronger version of that, with some instruments onboard, and maybe using some kind of balloon airbag cushion or ballute. Aerocapture increases the odds of successful touchdown.

The lunar impactor released by Chandrayaan was suggested by President Abdul Kalam, and had an Indian flag painted on it. An ISRO veteran himself, Kalam's point quite reasonably was that if you're taking all the trouble to go to the Moon, then you might as well drop something onto the surface. Even though it obviously splattered across the landscape when it hit, Indian politicians got a lot of mileage from claiming that the Indian flag had been brought to the Moon.

I'm guessing that if ISRO were to present the idea of dropping something on Venus with a flag painted on it -- hell, paint it on the parachute, what difference does it make -- once again giving politicians the chance to boast about planting flags, then the mission would be assured of funding. Even if the chute and airbag failed and things splattered, politicians would still get a flag-bragging opportunity.

I'm just wondering what the size constraints would be for such a package.
« Last Edit: 02/20/2012 08:52 am by sanman »

Offline sanman

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #9 on: 02/20/2012 09:04 pm »
Just out of curiosity, what should a Venus rover look like?

What kind of general shape and form-factor should it have, in order to successfully navigate the hostile surface conditions of Venus?

We all know it's hot, but other than volcanism the surface seems quite stagnant, so I assume there won't be any molten surface to contend with. And of course the pressure is huge. And I've read that the surface winds are slow but nevertheless have force, due to the dense atmosphere, and can blow stones and rocks along.

So I'm thinking that a rover should be low-slung and flat, like a slab, with wheels or treads on the sides. Maybe there could be some kind of small wind-turbine that could draw energy from the wind currents, to help power the rover?

What kind of instrumentation could be used to determine the firmness or composition of the ground?

Since the atmosphere is so dense, while having slow wind, could buoyancy be a mode of travel? What is the best way to travel around Venus? How low do the clouds go? How far from the ground can you be and still effectively make ground observations without visibility being obscured by fog, atmospheric effects, etc?
« Last Edit: 02/20/2012 09:05 pm by sanman »

Offline simonbp

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #10 on: 03/02/2012 09:16 pm »
You hit on the key point with the last paragraph; any mission to the Venusian surface would be more a high-temperature submersible than a rover. Here's the most recent JPL design for such a mission:

http://www.planetaryprobe.eu/IPPW7/proceedings/IPPW7%20Proceedings/Presentations/Session4/pr450.pdf

The Indian mission would be more comparable to Venus Express (the only mission currently at Venus), which is also descended from a commercial satellite bus.

Offline ss1_3

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #11 on: 12/11/2014 05:08 pm »
BUMP!

This Hindi article suggests that a Venus mission might be in order.

- PRL scientist: Strategy for the Venus mission discussed during a seminar last month.
- Planning to go in parallel with other Mars & moon missions.
- Mission to focus on sulphuric acid origins and surface temperature studies.

Offline johnxx9

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #12 on: 12/11/2014 06:18 pm »
BUMP!

This Hindi article suggests that a Venus mission might be in order.

- PRL scientist: Strategy for the Venus mission discussed during a seminar last month.
- Planning to go in parallel with other Mars & moon missions.
- Mission to focus on sulphuric acid origins and surface temperature studies.

This mission might be similar to what the Europeans did with Mars Express and Venus Express. The Venus orbiter might be vry similar to MoM.

The previous reports of it being based on RiSat might be incorrect. The is thought to have cost a lot, much more than MoM. So it seems likely that this spacecraft will be a sibling of MoM.

Offline vyoma

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #13 on: 12/12/2014 03:58 am »
So it seems likely that this spacecraft will be a sibling of MoM.

Since ISRO now has GSLV Mk2, hoping they would a bigger spacecraft (probably I-3K bus) with bigger/more scientific payloads.

Offline Ohsin

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #14 on: 05/20/2015 12:48 am »
They are talking about this again..
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/150520/technology-latest/article/after-mars-isro-plans-venus-odyssey

Quote
And, this mission to Venus could have a French connection as Prof Jacques Blamont, a renowned astrophysicists and a friend of the late Dr Vikram Sarabhai, who was conferred the Padma Shri this year, has offered to help Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) with gigantic balloons carrying several instruments but designed to pop in and out of the extremely hot atmosphere of the planet after being unfettered from the orbiter.

“It is possible to build and launch the spacecraft in about two-and-a-half years. Dr Adimurthy (who, incidentally, wrote the first feasibility report on the Mars Orbiter Mission) and a big team at Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram) are working out all the details like the ideal launch window, the best orbit for the orbiter and the instruments to go onboard,” Prof U R Rao, former chairman of ISRO, and head of the space agency’s Advisory Committee for Space Sciences told Deccan Chronicle.
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Offline worldtimedate

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #15 on: 05/20/2015 07:53 am »
Quote

Quote from: johnxx9 on 12/11/2014 06:18 PM

    So it seems likely that this spacecraft will be a sibling of MoM.


Since ISRO now has GSLV Mk2, hoping they would a bigger spacecraft (probably I-3K bus) with bigger/more scientific payloads.


Vyoma : Which launch vehicle will launch this spacecraft ? GSLV MK2 is not yet operational. One more successful launch of GSLV MK2 with indian cryogenic engine is required to declare it operational and gradually it needs to be scaled up to maximum 2.5 ton GTO capability. I was expecting a GSLV MK2 launch in August this year. Can we expect a GSLV MK2 launch in August ? ISRO is resting on laurels on the workhorse PSLV. If GSLV MK2 doesn't become a stable and reliable launcher, ISRO has to remain content with PSLV to launch MOM type spacecraft which can't have a meaningful scientific payload.
 



 
 
« Last Edit: 09/28/2015 12:55 pm by Chris Bergin »

Offline vyoma

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #16 on: 05/20/2015 04:03 pm »

Quote

Quote from: johnxx9 on 12/11/2014 06:18 PM

    So it seems likely that this spacecraft will be a sibling of MoM.


Since ISRO now has GSLV Mk2, hoping they would a bigger spacecraft (probably I-3K bus) with bigger/more scientific payloads.


Vyoma : Which launch vehicle will launch this spacecraft ? GSLV MK2 is not yet operational. One more successful launch of GSLV MK2 with indian cryogenic engine is required to declare it operational and gradually it needs to be scaled up to maximum 2.5 ton GTO capability. I was expecting a GSLV MK2 launch in August this year. Can we expect a GSLV MK2 launch in August ? ISRO is resting on laurels on the workhorse PSLV. If GSLV MK2 doesn't become a stable and reliable launcher, ISRO has to remain content with PSLV to launch MOM type spacecraft which can't have a meaningful scientific payload.
 
--- [ --- ]
 



 
 


Looks like GSLV Mk2 launch will happen July/August this year :)

http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/isro-to-launch-satellite-for-strategic-applications-764727

Offline sanman

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Offline abhishek

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #18 on: 07/13/2015 02:56 pm »
ISRO Now Eyes Venus as its Next Big Destination

NEW DELHI:  After a hugely successful mission to Mars where India beat China in reaching the Red Planet's orbit, the Indian space agency ISRO is not sitting back on its laurels. It now seeks to foray more into the Solar System with missions being planned for exploring Venus, a revisit to Mars and trip to an asteroid.
In an exclusive interview to NDTV, Kiran Kumar, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) says "We are looking at opportunities on what should be our next planetary mission, in this we are looking at opportunities whether it is a repeat Mars mission, or Venus mission or even an asteroid mission." 
http://www.ndtv.com/india-news/isro-now-eyes-venus-as-its-next-big-destination-780991
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Offline Ohsin

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Re: India Planning Mission to Venus
« Reply #19 on: 12/26/2015 08:57 pm »
Quote
ISRO will soon give wings to its other projects—the mission to Venus is likely to happen next year, India’s second lunar probe Chandrayaan II will land on moon in 2017, and its first solar mission Aditya L1 may be launched in 2019.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/magazine/A-S-Kiran-Kumar-The-Skymaster/2015/12/26/article3194302.ece

http://clowder.net/hop/railroad/EV.htm

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Edit:

Sounds like another technology demonstrator to me...seriously 12 months?
« Last Edit: 12/26/2015 10:34 pm by Ohsin »
"Well, three cheers to Sharma, but our real baby is INSAT."

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