Explained | After Chandrayaan-3, what has ISRO planned?
The HinduThe story so far: At 6.03 pm IST on August 23, the Chandrayaan-3 lander touched down on the moon’s surface, in the south polar region. ISRO’s activities span conducting research, developing satellite systems, working with autonomous bodies, producing rockets, maintaining satellite-tracking infrastructure, operating existing satellites, mitigating orbital debris, etc. Some of its more prominent focus areas at the moment are: - ‘Gaganyaan’, the human spaceflight mission – a group of astronauts are being trained while ISRO continues a series of tests of a modified Launch Vehicle Mark-3 rocket before it can be certified to be safe to carry humans; - Reusable Launch Vehicle Technology Demonstrator – tests are underway for a launch vehicle that can be used for multiple missions, unlike the existing rockets, each of which can be used only for one mission; - SCE-200 – a powerful engine that uses highly refined kerosene as the fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidiser, to power the next generation of ISRO rockets, currently undergoing tests; and - Small Satellite Launch Vehicle – a rocket smaller than the workhorse Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle to carry lighter satellites into low-earth orbit with a shorter turnaround time between launches, currently undergoing developmental flights. ISRO is also expected to launch the XPoSat satellite, to study X-rays streaming through outer space, and the third developmental flight of the SSLV this year. Finally, ISRO also has plans to return to Mars and develop missions to study Venus – with a mission called ‘Shukrayaan’ – in addition to studying the sun with the Aditya L1 mission.