Introduction
Today, ISRO has achieved many
missions successfully, and they have achieved missions which have been a great
milestone in the history of Indian rocketry. For example, India is the only
country in the world that has landed a spacecraft in the south pole of Moon. It
has also landed on Mars, in the mission Mangalyaan 1. Now, we will look into a
future mission of ISRO, Shukrayaan 1, which will be landing on earth’s sister
planet, Venus.
Fig.1.
Artist’s imagination of Shukrayaan 1
The word ‘Shukrayaan’ consists of two
different Sanskrit words where ‘Shukra’ means Venus and ‘Yaan’ means vehicle.
So far, only a very few agencies have tried reaching this planet, but most of
them have been unsuccessful because of the hostile atmosphere of the planet. It
mainly consists of sulphuric acid in the form of vapour, and carbon dioxide.
Carbon dioxide, which traps heat, is the gas that makes up most of the
atmosphere of Venus. This is what makes Venus a very hot planet. In these
atmospheric conditions, is it not very difficult to land a spacecraft on Venus?
Fig.2. Composition of the atmosphere
of Venus
Shukrayaan 1 is expected to launch on
29 March 2028. Before Shukrayaan 1, many other rockets have been launched to
Venus, out of which most were a failure. They were failing either due to some
technical issues, or losing connection, and due to the planet’s environment.
Venus has atmospheric pressure which is 90 times that of Earth. Due to this,
the rockets would be crushed. But then, NASA’s spacecraft Magellan, which was
launched on 5 May 1989, crashed into the surface of Venus, but before crashing,
it mapped 98% of Venus. Thus, it also measured the composition of the
atmosphere of Venus.
Fig.3. Terrain mapped by Magellan
probe
More about Shukrayaan 1
Shukrayaan 1 will be an orbiter,
which will weigh around 2,500 kg. It will be launched using the rocket, LVM
III. It will carry scientific payloads like VSAR (S-Band Synthetic Aperture
Radar), VSEAM (Venus Surface Emissivity and Atmospheric Mapper) etc. It must be
built of strong materials to withstand the immense pressure of Venus. It must
be built of materials that are corrosion-proof, because Venus has thick clouds
of sulphuric acid. Shukrayaan orbiter will use a method called aerobraking,
where it will use the atmosphere of Venus to change its orbit according to its
requirements. The main goals of Shukrayaan 1 are to study the atmosphere of
Venus (Aerodynamics, Wind speed etc.), and to study the geological activities
like volcanoes.
LVM III is a rocket that can carry heavy
and huge payloads. It is a three-stage rocket with solid with liquid fuel in
the first stage, liquid fuel in the second stage, and liquid cryogenic fuel in
the third stage.
The first stage is also known as S200. It
uses a solid fuel, Hydroxyl-Terminated Polybutadiene (HTPB). The second stage
is known as L110, and it uses liquid fuel, unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine
(UDMH) and Nitrogen Tetroxide (N2O4). The third stage, known as C25, holds
liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) in cryogenic form.
The S200 is one of the largest solid
boosters in the world. The boosters can provide a maximum thrust of 5,150 kN.
They also have slight flexibility, allowing them to gimbal up to +8 degrees.
The second stage is made of Vikas engines, each giving a thrust of 766 kN. They
give a total thrust of 1,532 kN. Unlike the boosters, these have complete
gimbal systems. The third stage is fitted with the largest cryogenic engine in
India, the CE-20 engine.
Fig.4. LVM III and its stages
Conclusion
Shukrayaan 1, a rocket which ISRO will
build, will be going to orbit Venus, a planet with a very hostile environment.
Veus is a challenging planet because of its atmospheric pressure, corrosive
clouds and hot surface temperature. Before, many rockets have unsuccessfully
approached Venus. Can Shukrayaan 1 do this? If yes, it will be research about its atmospheric and
geological features. ISRO has been successful in sending an orbiter to Mars.
Then why not Venus?
References
- Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Venus Orbiter Mission
(Shukrayaan-1), https://www.isro.gov.in/Venus_Orbiter_Mission.html.
- NASA Solar System Exploration Magellan https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/magellan/in-depth/
- The Economic Times. (2024, November 26). ISRO's Shukrayaan takes
off—on paper: Govt greenlights Venus mission to study planet's weather,
atmosphere.
- Hindustan Times. (2023, September 29). All about Shukrayaan 1:
ISRO's mission to Venus.
Vedant V Kamath
EsroMagica Batch 27