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Space Science Programme


Space Science research has been an important element of Indian space programme. Specific individual, nationally coordinated, multi-institutional, science payload instrumentation and science mission development projects in atmospheric and space science areas are supported and implemented by ISRO.


Chandrayaan - 1

India's first mission to Moon was launched on 22nd October, 2008. The Chandrayaan-1 mission was aimed at high-resolution remote sensing of the Moon in visible, near Infrared, low energy X-ray and high-energy Xray regions. Click here to know more


MARS Mission

Acc. to PTI, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced the Mars Orbiter Mission in his Independence Day address in 2012. The Mars Orbiter Mission launched in the month of November 2013, has five experimental payloads with a total weight of 14.49 kg. The payload includes the Methane Sensor, Thermal Infrared Spectrometer, Mars Color Camera, Lyman Alpha Photometer and Mars Exospheric Neutral composition analyzer. Click here to know more



ASTROSAT

ASTROSAT is a national multi wavelength space borne astronomy observatory, which would enable simultaneous observations of the celestial bodies, cosmic sources in X-ray and UV spectral bands. The uniqueness of ASTROSAT lies in its wide spectral coverage extending over visible (3500-6000 Å), UV (1300-3000 Å), soft X and hard X ray regions (0.5-8 keV; 3-80 keV). The satellite would be launched by PSLV to an altitude of 650 km with 8 deg orbital inclination.
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Astrosat Brochure


Chandrayaan - 2

India’s second mission to the Moon, Chandrayaan-2 is an advanced version of the previous Chandrayaan-1 mission which has been launched on India’s Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV MkIII-M1) on July 22, 2019.It will have an Orbiter, Lander-Vikram and Rover-Pragyan. Chandrayaan-2 will be 1st space mission to conduct a soft landing on the Moon's south polar region.

The science goals of the mission are to further improve the understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon using instruments onboard Orbiter and in-situ analysis of lunar samples using Lander and Rover. Further studies need to be done w.r.t water discovered by Chandrayaan-1.

ORBITER
The orbiter will communicate with Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, near Bengaluru as well as with Vikram lander.

VIKRAM LANDER This lander is named after Dr. Vikram A Sarabhai, the father of Indian Space Programme. It will communicate with Orbiter and Pragyan rover and Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, near Bengaluru. The lander will have a soft landing on the lunar surface.

PRAGYAN ROVER
The rover is named as Pragyan meaning "Wisdom" in Sanskrit. The orbiter will communicate with Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN) at Byalalu, near Bengaluru as well as with Vikram lander.

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Chandrayaan-2 Brochure


Chandrayaan-3

Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-on mission to Chandrayaan-2 to demonstrate end-to-end capability in safe landing and roving on the lunar surface. It consists of Lander and Rover configuration. It will be launched by GSLV MkIII from SDSC, Sriharikota. The propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration till 100km lunar orbit. The propulsion module has Spectro-polarimetry of HAbitable Planet Earth (SHAPE) payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements of Earth from the lunar orbit.

Lander payloads: Chandra’s Surface Thermophysical Experiment (ChaSTE) to measure the thermal conductivity and temperature; Instrument for Lunar Seismic Activity (ILSA) for measuring the seismicity around the landing site; Langmuir Probe (LP) to estimate the plasma density and its variations. A passive Laser Retroreflector Array from NASA is accommodated for lunar laser ranging studies.

Rover payloads : Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscope (LIBS) for deriving the elemental composition in the vicinity of landing site.

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Chandrayaan-3 Brochure

ADITYA-L1

ADITYA-L1 is a first dedicated scientific mission to study the solar atmosphere mainly the chromosphere and corona of the sun. It will carry following payloads:

  • Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC)
  • Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT)
  • Aditya Solar Wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX)
  • Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA)
  • Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS)
  • High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS)
  • Magnetometer
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Aditya-L1 Brochure