On Wednesday, the Cabinet gave its approval to carry out more missions of Chandrayaan following the success of Chandrayaan-3, in which a lander and rover were successfully launched on the surface of the moon. Addressing a parliamentary committee in February 2021, Ashwini Vaishnaw said that the next one would be launched under the Chandrayaan 4 mission, with the development and demonstration of technology required to undertake a human return mission after landing on the moon in its next phase. Besides this, samples of the moon will also be taken by the mission for analysis on the earth. Chandrayaan-4 is to be developed and launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation In the next 36 months of the initiation.
According to the estimates, the total cost of the Chandrayaan-4 is estimated at Rs. 2104.06 crore. This budget includes spacecraft, design and fabrication, two LVM3 flights, a deep space network, and special tests. ISRO Chief Dr. K Sivan said that the mission is a step forward towards the goal of making India a campus for the manufacture of technologies for future manned missions and lunar sample analysis. There will be a proper representation from different sectors, especially from the Indian industries and academic institutions.
In the same meeting, the Cabinet approved another major flagship space program, the Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM). This mission is focused only on the scientific research of Venus, and its objective is to provide improved awareness regarding the planet’s atmospheric and geological conditions. The mission’s launch will set an orbiter at Venus in an effort to investigate the surface, materials beneath the surface, atmospheric mechanism, and the effects of the Sun on Venus’ very dense atmosphere. Thus this mission enjoys a scientific significance to know why Venus was deemed habitable once like Earth. The Venus mission is set to happen in March 2028, and as the science community awaits the launch, expect to gain more scientific knowledge about Venus, the sister planet to Earth.
Also cleared was the creation of an Indian space station and a next-generation launch vehicle, which will make new strides in India’s space program.
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