India plans to go to Venus for the first time and revisit the red planet, Mars, very soon. A formal acknowledgment by the government of these two bold inter-planetary sojourns is in the electronic budget documents.
The mission to Mars is tentatively slated for 2021-22 and as per existing plans it may well involve putting a robot on the Martian surface. While India's first Mars mission in 2013 was purely indigenous, the French space agency wants to collaborate in making the Mars rover.
India's maiden mission to Venus, the second planet of the solar system named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is in all probability going to be a modest orbiter mission.
The news comes ahead of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) attempting its mega launch this week when it will place 104 satellites in space in a single launch.No other country has ever tried to hit a century in a single mission. Russia holds the current record of 37 satellites.
The mission, set for February 15, has another significance. It will bring arch-rivals, Israel and the Arab world, together in a single launch for the first time. An Isro official told TOI on Tuesday that the 104 satellites include one from Israel and another from Dubai. "The last satellite which was included was from a private firm in Dubai and is a nano satellite. It is significant that we have brought together Israel and the Arab world,'' he said.
In the 2017 budget, funds for the department of space have been increased by 23%.Under the space sciences section, the budget mentions provisions "for Mars Orbiter Mission II and mission to Venus".
This Mars mission is likely to be all about doing good science since the first one had a nationalistic streak in it in trying to beat China to the orbit of Mars, which the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) did magnificently.
Of the 104 satellites to be launched by Isro on Wednesday, the largest chunk of 88 is from the United States. The satellites are from a single American organization, Planet, located in California.
The other foreign satellites are from Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. There are only three Indian satellites-Cartosat 2 and two Indian nano satellites. A majority of the satellites are for earth imaging.
In a recent interview, mission director B Jayakumar, who will activate the launch key, explained that the main challenge of the mission was handling of the 104 satellites.
"At the time of their deployment, we have to ensure that the satellites do not collide and the separation takes place flawlessly. All of them will be deployed in a nearly 500km polar sun-synchronous orbit,'' Jayakumar added.
The mission to Mars is tentatively slated for 2021-22 and as per existing plans it may well involve putting a robot on the Martian surface. While India's first Mars mission in 2013 was purely indigenous, the French space agency wants to collaborate in making the Mars rover.
India's maiden mission to Venus, the second planet of the solar system named after the Roman goddess of love and beauty, is in all probability going to be a modest orbiter mission.
The news comes ahead of the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) attempting its mega launch this week when it will place 104 satellites in space in a single launch.No other country has ever tried to hit a century in a single mission. Russia holds the current record of 37 satellites.
The mission, set for February 15, has another significance. It will bring arch-rivals, Israel and the Arab world, together in a single launch for the first time. An Isro official told TOI on Tuesday that the 104 satellites include one from Israel and another from Dubai. "The last satellite which was included was from a private firm in Dubai and is a nano satellite. It is significant that we have brought together Israel and the Arab world,'' he said.
In the 2017 budget, funds for the department of space have been increased by 23%.Under the space sciences section, the budget mentions provisions "for Mars Orbiter Mission II and mission to Venus".
This Mars mission is likely to be all about doing good science since the first one had a nationalistic streak in it in trying to beat China to the orbit of Mars, which the Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) did magnificently.
Of the 104 satellites to be launched by Isro on Wednesday, the largest chunk of 88 is from the United States. The satellites are from a single American organization, Planet, located in California.
The other foreign satellites are from Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. There are only three Indian satellites-Cartosat 2 and two Indian nano satellites. A majority of the satellites are for earth imaging.
In a recent interview, mission director B Jayakumar, who will activate the launch key, explained that the main challenge of the mission was handling of the 104 satellites.
"At the time of their deployment, we have to ensure that the satellites do not collide and the separation takes place flawlessly. All of them will be deployed in a nearly 500km polar sun-synchronous orbit,'' Jayakumar added.