New Delhi: With NASA’s Perseverance rover landing on Mars in the early hours of Friday to look for signs of past life, ISRO’s next mission to the planet is likely to be an orbiter.
Perseverance, the biggest and the most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, made its landing at Jezero Crater.
After its successful Mars Orbiter Mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) called for ‘Announcement of Opportunities’ on Mars Orbiter Mission-2.
“It is now planned to have the next orbiter mission around Mars for a future launch opportunity,” according to the Announcement of Opportunities.
ISRO plans to send three humans to space by 2022 under the Gaganyaan (human space) mission.
The India-France Joint Vision for Space Cooperation’ also mentions about the possible collaboration to explore Mars.
According to the vision statement, “CNES and ISRO, with the support of Laboratoire de meteorologic dynamique (LMD, CNRS), will jointly work on the modelling of Mars and Venus atmospheres.”
Mangalyaan or Mars Orbiter Mission was India’s first endeavour to successfully reach another planet. The launch vehicle, spacecraft and ground segment cost Rs 450 crore, one of the cheapest missions to Mars so far.