ISRO, India’s premier space agency will be looking for some better days in the coming year as it plans to speed several pending and new missions that have been delayed due to successive lockdowns this year. They have already given signals that there will be more launches and possibly 2022 will be the year of space science.
Here are some of the biggest missions that are scheduled for the coming year by ISRO:
Gaganyaan:
The main aim of this mission is to send the first batch of Indian astronauts into space on an Indian developed spacecraft and that’s defined as India’s pioneering mission. ISRO will conduct their test vehicle flight for the validation of Crew Escape System performance. The first unscrewed mission of Gaganyaan will be at the beginning of the second half of 2022.
By the end of 2022 there is a second unscrewed mission scheduled in which four Indian Air Force officers will be launched into space and the officers are already undergoing training in Russia. ISRO has kept the identities of all these four officers confidential at the moment.
Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences said that the program got delayed due to Covid restrictions but preparations are in full swing to achieve the mission by 2023. He also mentioned that the objective of this mission is to demonstrate the capability to send humans to the lower earth orbit (LEO) onboard an Indian spacecraft and bring them back to earth safely.
Aditya L1 mission to Sun:
After being delayed by a year due to Covid-19 restrictions, Aditya L1, India’s maiden mission to study the Sun, will be launched in 2022. This mission is expected to insert in a halo orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1). This will be the ISRO’s second high-profile space mission after it launched the Mars orbiter in 2013. The mission has been named from the Sanskrit word Aditya which means ‘sun’.
Chandrayaan – 3:
Third quarter of 2022 will be very important as ISRO is planning to launch its Chandrayaan – 3 mission. This mission which was scheduled for 2021 got delayed due to Covid restrictions. This mission will be launched after the first Chandrayaan mission that was launched in October 2008 and made major discoveries which included finding the evidence of water on the lunar surface. Chandrayaan-2 crash-landed on the far side of the moon in July 2019. After the crash the orbiter is still hovering above the lunar surface and ISRO is planning to use it with Chandrayaan-3.
“We are working on it. It is the same configuration as Chandrayaan-2 but it will not have an orbiter. The orbiter launched during Chandrayaan-2 will be used for Chandrayaan-3. We are planning the launch by 2022” said ISRO Chief K Sivan.
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV):
India is emerging as a hotspot for launching satellites to low-Earth Orbit, so ISRO is developing the SSLV. Center has allocated Rs 169 crores for developing SSLV. The SSLV will provide a payload capability of 500 KG to a 500 KG planar orbit. During the first quarter of 2022, ISRO will conduct the maiden launch for the mission.
ISRO already had six agreements with four countries to launch satellites during 2021-2023, generating 132 million euros in revenue.