ISRO Discussing Possible Mission To Moon With Japanese Agency: Chairman S Somanath

The chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation Sreedhara Panicker Somanath stated on Wednesday that ISRO has successfully done significant collaborations on its various space missions and is now exploring a prospective mission to the moon with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Somanath also suggested that there is a significant chance of launching an expedition to Venus by 2028.

He was addressing the inaugural talk on Indian Potential for Space Science and Planetary Exploration at the fourth Indian Planetary Science conference organized by Indian Planetary Science Association (IPSA) which is a three-day conference scheduled during 22-24 March 2023.

He stated that ISO will consider teaming up with other agencies on exploration missions. He also said that it is critical that it happens only when they have faith in you and our tools and measuring systems complement their aims.

The ISRO chief emphasized that to build complex missions, it is significant for ISRO to collaborate with research institutions all across the world. He highlighted the TRISHNA project, which was created by ISRO and its French equivalents, CNES i.e., the National Centre for Space Studies which is the space agency of the French government, to monitor the Earth’s surface in the thermal infrared domain. S Somanath, who is also the Secretary of the Space Department also stated that we are also contemplating a potential lunar mission with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, in which they’d design the land rover and launch it using a Japanese rocket.

Somanath explained that ISRO has been successful in partnering on significant space missions, and it is essential to build a relationship between scientific organizations all over the globe and ISO in designing complex missions of this sort.

He said that Venus is a very complex planet to explore, and there is a good potential to launch it by 2028 adding that the scientific community is very interested in using the capacity in this mission. He continued that I am absolutely certain that we will pursue it further. According to the chief, ISRO will explore the possibility of landing a mission on Mars in a few years and will pursue additional support for DISHA payloads.

The progressive ‘Gaganyaan’ project, which aims to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a team of three to a 400-kilometer orbit for a three-day operation and safely returning them to Earth, was discussed by the ISRO chairman. This project offers ample opportunities for conducting experiments on board, including microgravity, material testing, space mining, and space-based observations. He explained that with the Gaganyaan project, we need to concentrate on this and set scientific targets. He added that sending a man up there is one thing, but doing something meaningful is what we all are aiming at. Somanath indicated that discussions for ISRO’s projected mission to Venus have started and are currently in progress.