ISRO’s Venus Mission

In News

• Recently, the new Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has announced plans to launch the Venus mission by December 2024.

About

• Aim: To study what lies below the surface of the solar system’s hottest planet, and also unravel the mysteries under the Sulfuric Acid clouds enveloping it.

Objective of the Mission

• Possibility of Water: 
  • In the solar system’s early days when the Sun was cooler, scientists think the planet may have had liquid water on the surface for 2 billion years — far longer than Mars, which had liquid water for a relatively shorter 300 million years. 
• Elements of Life:
  • In 2020 scientists announced they had found phosphine, a chemical strongly associated with life, in Venus’s clouds — though the existence of the signal is currently being reviewed.
• Earth like planet:  
  • By studying Venus, scientists learn how Earth-like planets evolve and what conditions exist on Earth-sized exoplanets. 
  • Venus also helps scientists model Earth’s climate, and serves as a cautionary tale on how dramatically a planet’s climate can change.

Significance

• Studying Venus helps get a better understanding of the evolution of the planet, especially the study of exoplanets.
• It will help in modelling Earth’s climate and serves as a cautionary tale on how dramatically a planet’s climate can change.
• Studying the thick Venus atmosphere will also pave the way for future air balloon type missions which can float in the upper atmosphere where the conditions are more benign than that on the ground.

Challenges

• Venus is scorching hot because a majority of its atmosphere is composed of carbon dioxide. The surface is said to be hot enough to melt lead, and dappled with innumerable volcanoes.
• Venus is also infamous for its extreme surface air pressure— about 90 times higher than the pressure at sea level on Earth.
• Unlike Mars, Venus has a thick atmosphere. Visual imagining payloads will not help in understanding the sub-surface topologies. 
• In order to have a deeper understanding, the instruments need to go deep through the atmosphere.

Earlier Studies and Missions:

• NASA:
  • Venus was the first planet to be explored by a spacecraft – NASA’s Mariner 2 on Dec. 14, 1962.
  • NASA’s Pioneer Venus mission (1978), the Soviet Union’s Venera 15 and 16 missions (1983-1984), and NASA’s Magellan radar mapping mission (1990-1994) provided together with a comprehensive picture of a dry world, with landscapes shaped by volcanic and intense geological activity. 
• Indian missions:
  • Shukrayaan
  • India plans to launch a new orbiter to Venus in 2024. It will be the first mission to Venus by the India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and will study the planet for four years.

About Venus  

• Earth’s Twin:
  • Venus is Earth’s closest planetary neighbour which is similar in structure but slightly smaller than Earth, it is the second planet from the sun. Therefore, Venus has been called Earth’s twin.
• Thick & Toxic Atmosphere:
  • Venus has an atmosphere 50 times denser than Earth’s.
  • Venus is wrapped in a thick, toxic atmosphere filled with carbon dioxide that traps in heat.
• Inhabitable: 
  • Venus is the hottest planet in the solar system.
  • The temperature of Venus is too high, and its atmosphere is highly acidic, just two of the things that would make life impossible.
  • Surface temperatures reach a scorching 880 degrees Fahrenheit (471 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt lead.
• Other Features:
  • It has no moons and no rings.
  • Venus’ solid surface is a volcanic landscape covered with extensive plains featuring high volcanic mountains and vast ridges.
  • It spins from east to west, the opposite direction from all other planets in our solar system but the same as Uranus.

Source: TH