The Union Cabinet Cabinet approves mission to Venus

New Delhi : The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the

developmentof Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), that

will be a significant step towards the Government’s vision of exploring and

studying the Venus, after Moon and Mars.

Venus, the closest planet to Earth,

is believed to have formed in conditions similar to Earth, offers a unique

opportunity to understand how planetary environments evolve.

The ‘Venus Orbiter Mission’ to be

accomplished by Department of Space is envisaged to orbit a scientific

spacecraft in the orbit of planet Venus for better understanding of the

Venusian surface and subsurface, atmospheric processes and influence of Sun on

Venusian atmosphere.

The study of the underlying causes of

transformation of Venus, which is believed to be once habitable and quite

similar to Earth would be an invaluable aid in understanding the evolution of

the sister planets, both Venus and Earth.

ISRO will be responsible for the

development of spacecraft and its launch.

The Project will be effectively

managed and monitored through the established practices prevailing at ISRO. The

data generated from the mission would be disseminated to the scientific

community through existing mechanisms.

The mission is expected to be

accomplished by March 2028. The Indian Venus

mission is expected to answer some of the outstanding scientific questions. The realization of the spacecraft and

launch vehicle is through various industries and it is envisaged that there

would be large employment potential and technology spin-off to other sectors of

the economy.

The total fund approved for the Venus

Orbiter Mission” (VOM), is ₹1,236 crore out of which ₹824 crore will be

spent on the spacecraft. The cost includes development and realisation of the

spacecraft including its specific payloads and technology elements, global

ground station support cost for navigation and network as well as the cost of

launch vehicle.

The mission would enable India for

future planetary missions with larger payloads and optimal orbit insertion

approaches. There would be a significant involvement of Indian Industry during

the development of the spacecraft and launch vehicle. The involvement of

various academic institutions and training to students in pre-launch phase that

includes design, development, testing, test data reduction, calibration

etc. is also envisaged. The mission through its unique instruments offers

the Indian Science community new and valuable science data and thereby

providing emerging and novel opportunities