Science and Technology Notes 04

Space Missions of ISRO

The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has a storied history of developing indigenous space capabilities, evolving from modest beginnings to becoming a global space power. The missions can be categorized based on their objectives: planetary exploration, space science, and human spaceflight.

Past Missions (Illustrative Examples)

• Chandrayaan-1 (2008):
  • Context: India’s first mission to the Moon, launched aboard the PSLV-C11. It marked India’s entry into the elite club of nations that had sent missions to the lunar surface. The mission was a significant step in planetary science for India, building upon the legacy of scientists like Dr. Vikram Sarabhai, who envisioned an indigenous space program for national development.
  • Objectives & Findings: The mission’s primary objective was to create a high-resolution 3D atlas of the Moon and conduct chemical and mineralogical mapping. Its most celebrated discovery was the definitive confirmation of water (H₂O) and hydroxyl (OH) molecules on the lunar surface. This finding, primarily credited to the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M³) instrument from NASA aboard Chandrayaan-1, and supported by ISRO’s own Moon Impact Probe (MIP), revolutionized lunar science. The MIP, which crash-landed near the lunar south pole, also detected water in the thin lunar atmosphere.
• Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) or Mangalyaan (2013):
  • Context: Launched aboard PSLV-C25, MOM was India’s first interplanetary mission, making ISRO the fourth space agency to reach Mars orbit. It was lauded globally for its cost-effectiveness (approx. $74 million) and for succeeding on its first attempt, a feat not achieved by any other nation.
  • Objectives & Findings: The mission was primarily a technology demonstrator, designed to prove India’s capability to design, plan, and manage an interplanetary mission. Its scientific objectives included studying the Martian surface morphology, mineralogy, and atmosphere. It provided valuable data on the Martian exosphere and the dynamics of dust storms, and captured stunning full-disc images of Mars. Its extended mission life far exceeded the planned six months, providing a wealth of data until communication was lost in 2022.
• Astrosat (2015):
  • Context: India’s first dedicated multi-wavelength space observatory. It was a significant milestone in Indian space science, providing a domestic platform for astronomical research. Its capabilities are comparable to a smaller version of the Hubble Space Telescope, but with the unique ability to observe in multiple bands simultaneously.
  • Objectives: To study cosmic sources in X-ray, optical, and UV spectral bands simultaneously. It has made significant contributions to the study of black holes, neutron stars, and active galactic nuclei. For instance, in 2017, Astrosat helped measure the X-ray polarization from the Crab Nebula, a complex task that provided insights into the nebula’s geometry and magnetic fields.
• Chandrayaan-2 (2019):
  • Context: A highly ambitious mission comprising an Orbiter, a Lander (Vikram), and a Rover (Pragyan). Launched by the GSLV MkIII-M1 (now LVM3-M1), it aimed to make India the fourth country to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
  • Objectives & Findings: While the Vikram lander experienced a hard landing due to a last-minute glitch in its braking thrusters, the Orbiter component of the mission has been a resounding success. The high-resolution Orbiter continues to circle the Moon, providing high-quality data. Its instruments, like the Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC), have mapped the lunar surface with unprecedented detail, aiding future missions including Chandrayaan-3 and NASA’s Artemis program.

Recently Launched & Near Future Missions

• Chandrayaan-3 (Launched July 2023, Landed August 2023): This mission was a direct follow-up to Chandrayaan-2, demonstrating India’s resilience. It successfully achieved a soft landing near the lunar south pole, making India the first country to do so. The Vikram lander and Pragyan rover conducted in-situ experiments for one lunar day (approx. 14 Earth days).
• Aditya L1 (Launched September 2023): India’s first dedicated solar observatory. (Detailed below).
• Gaganyaan: India’s inaugural human spaceflight mission. (Detailed below).

Missions by End of Decade

• Shukrayaan-1: An orbiter mission planned for Venus to study its atmosphere, which is known for its extreme pressure and corrosive sulfuric acid clouds.
• Mars Orbiter Mission 2 (MOM-2 or Mangalyaan-2): A follow-up mission to Mars, likely to include a more advanced scientific payload, potentially including a lander or rover.
• XPoSat (X-ray Polarimeter Satellite): India’s first dedicated polarimetry mission to study the dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions.
• Bharatiya Antariksha Station (Indian Space Station): ISRO plans to establish a space station by 2035, with the Gaganyaan mission serving as the foundational step.

Aditya L1 Mission

• Nomenclature and Objective: ‘Aditya’ is Sanskrit for the Sun. ‘L1’ refers to its destination, the first Sun-Earth Lagrangian point. It is ISRO’s maiden scientific expedition to study the Sun from a vantage point approximately 1.5 million km from Earth.
• Scientific Focus: The mission is designed to observe the Sun’s outermost layers:
  • Photosphere: The visible surface of the Sun.
  • Chromosphere: The layer above the photosphere.
  • Corona: The Sun’s extended outer atmosphere, which is paradoxically much hotter (millions of degrees Celsius) than the photosphere (around 5,500°C). This is known as the “Coronal Heating Problem,” a major puzzle in astrophysics that Aditya L1 aims to investigate.
• Instrumentation (Payloads): The mission carries seven indigenously developed payloads to conduct systematic studies.
  1. Visible Emission Line Coronagraph (VELC): The primary payload, designed to study the solar corona, its temperature, velocity, and the dynamics of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs).
  2. Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (SUIT): To image the Photosphere and Chromosphere in near-ultraviolet wavelengths.
  3. Solar Low Energy X-ray Spectrometer (SoLEXS) & High Energy L1 Orbiting X-ray Spectrometer (HEL1OS): These are designed to study the X-ray flares from the Sun over a wide energy range.
  4. Aditya Solar wind Particle Experiment (ASPEX) & Plasma Analyser Package for Aditya (PAPA): These two payloads are designed for in-situ study of the solar wind and its particle distribution.
  5. Advanced Tri-axial High Resolution Digital Magnetometers: To measure the magnitude and nature of the interplanetary magnetic field.
• Significance of Studying Solar Phenomena:
  • Solar Flares and CMEs: These are massive explosions on the Sun’s surface that release enormous amounts of energy and charged particles. A powerful, Earth-directed CME can disrupt the Earth’s magnetosphere, leading to geomagnetic storms.
  • Impacts on Technology: Such storms can damage satellites, disrupt power grids leading to large-scale outages, and interfere with communication and navigation systems (like GPS). The study of these phenomena is crucial for “space weather” prediction to protect our technological infrastructure.
  • Auroras: While beautiful, intense auroras appearing at lower latitudes are a visible sign of a powerful geomagnetic storm.

Lagrangian Points and Halo Orbits

• The Three-Body Problem: In celestial mechanics, predicting the motion of three mutually gravitating bodies (e.g., Sun, Earth, Moon) is extraordinarily complex and generally has no exact analytical solution.
• Lagrange’s Contribution (1772): The Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange identified five special points in the orbital plane of two large bodies, where a third, much smaller object can maintain a stable position relative to them. At these points, the gravitational pull of the two large bodies precisely equals the centripetal force required for the small object to move with them.
• The Five Lagrangian Points (for the Sun-Earth system):
  • L1: Located 1.5 million km from Earth along the Sun-Earth line. Ideal for solar observation as it offers an uninterrupted view of the Sun without any eclipses from the Earth or Moon. (e.g., Aditya L1, NASA/ESA’s SOHO).
  • L2: Located 1.5 million km from Earth, opposite the Sun. Ideal for deep-space astronomy. A telescope placed here can keep the Sun, Earth, and Moon behind its sunshield, allowing for unobstructed views of the cold, dark universe and maintaining stable, low temperatures for its instruments. (e.g., James Webb Space Telescope, ESA’s Gaia).
  • L3: Located on the other side of the Sun, opposite the Earth. It is difficult to communicate with and not considered useful for current missions.
  • L4 and L5: Located at the points of an equilateral triangle with the Sun and Earth. These are points of stable equilibrium, meaning objects placed here tend to stay put. They are known to collect interplanetary dust and asteroids (Trojan asteroids). They are potential sites for future space colonies or stations.
• Halo Orbit: Spacecraft are not placed exactly at a Lagrangian point but in a small, three-dimensional orbit around it, known as a Halo Orbit. This is because L1, L2, and L3 are meta-stable points (like a ball balanced on a hilltop); a slight nudge would cause the spacecraft to drift away. Orbiting the point requires minimal station-keeping fuel to maintain position and avoids the Sun’s direct line of sight from Earth, ensuring continuous communication.

Gaganyaan Mission

• Mission Profile: India’s first crewed spaceflight program aims to send a crew of three astronauts into a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 400 km for a mission lasting 5-7 days. The launch vehicle will be the human-rated LVM3 rocket. The program involves two uncrewed test flights before the final crewed mission.
• Historical Context: While Rakesh Sharma became the first Indian in space in 1984, he flew aboard a Soviet Soyuz T-11 mission. Gaganyaan will be the first time India launches its own astronauts on its own rocket from Indian soil.
• Core Technological Challenges:
  1. Launch Vehicle Reliability: The LVM3 (GSLV MkIII) must be “human-rated,” meaning it must have extremely high reliability and include a Crew Escape System (CES) to safely eject the crew module in case of a launch failure.
  2. Life Support System: Creating a habitable environment in the orbital module with regulated pressure, temperature, oxygen, and food, and a system for waste removal, is a critical challenge.
  3. Radiation Shielding: In LEO, astronauts are exposed to higher levels of cosmic and solar radiation than on Earth. The crew module needs adequate shielding to protect their health.
  4. Re-entry and Recovery: The crew module must withstand extreme temperatures (over 2000°C) during re-entry into the atmosphere. This requires a sophisticated thermal protection system (ablative heat shield). The parachute deployment system must be precise for a safe splashdown in the sea, followed by a swift recovery operation.
• The “Cost vs. Benefit” Debate:
  • Arguments Against: Critics argue that a country with significant challenges in poverty, health, and education should prioritize social sector spending over such an expensive mission.
  • Arguments For (Benefits):
    • Tangible Benefits (Spin-off Technologies): Space programs are crucibles of innovation. Technologies developed for crewed missions have widespread applications. Examples include advanced life-support systems (used in ICU ventilators), fire-retardant materials, water purification technologies, and tele-robotics (remote surgery).
    • Economic Opportunities: A successful Gaganyaan mission can position India as a key player in the burgeoning space tourism market and satellite servicing industry.
    • Strategic & Geopolitical Significance: It demonstrates advanced technological capability, enhancing India’s “soft power” and its standing in global geopolitics. It places India in the elite club of nations (after Russia, USA, and China) with indigenous human spaceflight capability.
    • Scientific Advancement: It is a stepping stone towards more ambitious goals like establishing an Indian space station and conducting interplanetary human missions.
    • Inspiration and Human Capital: Such missions inspire a generation of students to pursue careers in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), fostering a scientific temper in society.

Prelims Pointers

• GSLV Mk II Payload Capacity: To Low Earth Orbit (LEO) is ~5000 kg; to Geostationary Transfer Orbit (GTO) is ~2500 kg.
• LVM3 (GSLV Mk III) Payload Capacity: To LEO is ~10,000 kg; to GTO is ~4000 kg. Gaganyaan will use the human-rated LVM3.
• Chandrayaan-1: India’s first lunar mission (2008); confirmed the presence of water molecules on the Moon.
• Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM): India’s first interplanetary mission (2013); made India the fourth country to reach Mars orbit.
• Astrosat: India’s first multi-wavelength space observatory (2015).
• Chandrayaan-3: First mission to soft-land near the lunar south pole (August 23, 2023).
• Aditya L1: ISRO’s first dedicated solar observatory.
• Destination of Aditya L1: A halo orbit around the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point 1 (L1).
• Distance to L1: Approximately 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
• Aditya L1 Payloads (7): VELC, SUIT, SoLEXS, HEL1OS, ASPEX, PAPA, Magnetometer.
• Layers of the Sun’s Atmosphere (outer to inner): Corona, Chromosphere, Photosphere.
• Plasma: The fourth state of matter, consisting of a gas of ions and free electrons, existing at very high temperatures.
• Lagrangian Points: Five points in a two-body system where a smaller object can maintain a stable position. L1, L2, L3 are meta-stable; L4, L5 are stable.
• James Webb Space Telescope: Located at the Sun-Earth L2 point. It is a collaboration between NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
• Gaganyaan Mission:
  1. India’s first crewed space mission.
  2. Crew Size: 3 astronauts.
  3. Orbit: Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at 400 km altitude.
  4. Duration: 5-7 days.

Mains Insights

GS Paper III: Science & Technology; Economy

1. Gaganyaan Mission: A Catalyst for Technological and Economic Growth

   • Cause-Effect Relationship: The stringent requirements of a human spaceflight mission (cause) directly lead to the development of cutting-edge technologies in materials science, life support, and software engineering (effect).
   • Spin-off Technologies: These innovations are not confined to space. They have terrestrial applications (e.g., medical devices from life support research, advanced water filters, fireproof fabrics), contributing to industrial growth and ‘Make in India’.
   • New Economic Frontiers: Success in Gaganyaan can open up commercial opportunities in space tourism, microgravity experiments for pharmaceutical companies, and satellite servicing, diversifying the Indian economy. This aligns with the government’s push to increase the private sector’s role in space through bodies like IN-SPACe.

2. The Debate: Human Spaceflight vs. Socio-Economic Priorities

   • Viewpoint 1 (Pragmatic/Social): India faces pressing developmental challenges. The high expenditure on a crewed mission could be better utilized for healthcare, education, or poverty alleviation. The returns are often intangible and long-term, making it a questionable priority.
   • Viewpoint 2 (Strategic/Visionary): Human spaceflight is not an ‘either/or’ choice but a long-term strategic investment. It enhances national prestige (soft power), inspires scientific temper, builds invaluable human capital, and creates high-tech jobs. The technological self-reliance achieved through such missions is crucial for national security and sovereignty.
   • Balanced Conclusion: While social sector spending is non-negotiable, strategic investments in science and technology are essential for a nation’s long-term growth and global standing. The key lies in a balanced approach, where space exploration budgets are justified by their potential to generate disruptive technologies and inspire a new generation of innovators.

GS Paper II: International Relations

• Space as an Instrument of Soft Power and Diplomacy:
  • Missions like MOM, Chandrayaan, and Gaganyaan enhance India’s global image as a technologically advanced and self-reliant nation.
  • Successful and cost-effective missions position ISRO as a credible partner for international collaborations (e.g., the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar - NISAR mission).
  • Offering launch services and sharing scientific data with smaller nations, particularly in the SAARC region (e.g., SAARC satellite), strengthens regional ties and counters the influence of other space powers like China. A successful Gaganyaan can lead to opportunities for training astronauts from friendly nations.