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| Edited By: Mihika Basu |Source: DNA |Updated: Apr 13, 2018, 02:19 AM IST
A feasibility report done by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) has established that India has the capability to go on a mission to Mars, said former ISRO chariman, G Madhavan Nair. He was speaking during the last day of the international symposium on “science and technology at the frontiers” at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on Saturday.
“Various concepts are emerging to look at Mars and the nearby objects like asteroids and comets. A feasibility study by Isro has established that India has the capability to go to Mars. Our Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) can be used to launch a Mars mission,” said Nair.
However, Nair said that the scientific goals for the mission have to be established. “Hence, we have thrown open discussions through the scientific forum to find out what the objectives could be for such a mission,” said Nair.
Earlier in August this year, seed money had been sanctioned by the government for the Mars project in order to carry out studies on experiments that should be conducted among others.
Further, speaking on ISRO’s second moon mission, Chandrayaan-II, Nair said that it is expected to be launched by 2013. “Besides the orbiter, Chandrayaan-II will have a lander and a rover which will be able to pick up samples of rock or soil from the moon surface for on-site chemical analysis and then send back the data to Earth. We hope it will be our flagship event,” he said. He said a review meeting of the scientific instruments or payloads for Chandrayaan-II was held in Bangalore on Friday.
Nair said India’s first astronomy satellite, Astrosat, is expected to be launched by 2010. It will have detectors in X-ray, ultraviolet, gama rays and infrared bands enabling scientists to observe the universe, black holes and galaxies among others simultaneously.
Another satellite Aditya-I, will be launched in the next two years. “It’s the first Indian space-based solar coronagraph to study solar corona,” said Nair. It will study the coronal mass ejection (CME), which are huge bubbles of electrified gas that billow away from the Sun, and consequently the crucial physical parameters for space weather.
