India is preparing for one of its most ambitious space missions yet: sending a spacecraft to Venus, our closest planetary neighbor. On September 25, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced exciting opportunities for researchers to analyze existing Venus data and contribute to the upcoming Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM), scheduled to launch in March 2028.
Venus is often called Earth's "sister planet" because both planets are similar in size, mass, and composition. However, Venus is dramatically different from Earth in ways that puzzle scientists. While Earth supports life with comfortable temperatures and breathable air, Venus is a hellish world with surface temperatures hot enough to melt lead (about 450°C) and an atmosphere so thick it would crush a human instantly.
The Venus Orbiter Mission has many scientific goals, each designed to unlock different mysteries about this fascinating world. "The spacecraft will use advanced radar technology to peer through Venus's thick cloud cover and map the planet's surface. Think of it like using X-rays to see through skin and examine bones—the radar will "see" through the dense atmosphere to study mountains, valleys, and geological features on Venus's surface. It will also look beneath the surface to understand the planet's internal structure," explained space analyst Girish Linganna.
Venus has an incredibly dense atmosphere made mostly of carbon dioxide, with clouds of sulfuric acid. The mission will study how this atmosphere moves, what it's made of, and how it behaves. This is like having a weather station that can analyze not just today's weather, but the entire atmospheric system of another planet.
"The ionosphere is a layer of Venus's atmosphere where gas particles become electrically charged due to solar radiation. By studying this region, scientists can understand how the Sun's energy affects planetary atmospheres, knowledge that's valuable for understanding how atmospheres evolve over time," added Linganna.
In addition, the solar wind consists of charged particles constantly streaming from the Sun. The mission will examine how these particles interact with Venus, which lacks a magnetic field like Earth's. This helps scientists understand how planets without magnetic shields lose their atmospheres over time.
"By studying Venus and comparing it with Earth, scientists hope to understand why these similar planets evolved so differently. This could provide crucial insights into planetary evolution and climate systems," pointed out Linganna.
ISRO's Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)
The Venus Orbiter will carry sophisticated instruments, each designed for specific tasks such as the S-band Synthetic Aperture Radar. This advanced radar system will create detailed maps of Venus's surface by bouncing radio waves off the planet and analyzing the reflections.
Another payload will be the Subsurface Sounding Radar, which is like a ground-penetrating radar used by archaeologists; this will reveal what lies beneath Venus's surface. The mission will have payloads such as the Thermal Camera, which will measure heat signatures across the planet, helping scientists understand temperature variations and geological activity. There will also be a Cloud Monitoring Camera, which will study cloud patterns, movements, and composition.
There will also be an Atmospheric Spectropolarimeter, which will analyze light passing through Venus's atmosphere to determine what gases are present and in what quantities. The mission will also involve Solar Occultation Photometry; this technique will study how sunlight changes as it passes through Venus's atmosphere, revealing information about atmospheric layers and particle composition. Then there will be a Retarding Potential Analyzer, a device which measures the energy and composition of charged particles in Venus's ionosphere.
ISRO's announcement invites researchers worldwide to contribute to this mission through different key research areas such as Venusian Morphology and Topography, involving studying the shape and structure of Venus's surface features; Geological Mapping, by creating detailed maps of Venus's rock formations and surface composition; Atmospheric Studies, involving understanding Venus's complex weather and atmospheric systems; Ionosphere Research, by investigating the electrically charged layer of Venus's atmosphere. Another research area will be Atmospheric Modeling, which will include using computer simulations to predict and understand Venus's atmospheric behavior.
The Venus Orbiter Mission, launching in March 2028, represents India's continued commitment to space exploration and scientific discovery. By studying our mysterious twin planet, we may unlock secrets that help us better understand not just Venus, but Earth itself. For students interested in space science, this mission demonstrates how modern space exploration combines multiple scientific disciplines from geology and atmospheric science to engineering and computer modeling—showing that the future of space exploration belongs to those who can think across multiple fields of knowledge.
