Sweden is in collaboration with ISRO as it seeks to place a scientific instrument onboard India’s Venus orbiter mission Shukrayaan
Bengaluru: Sweden is in talks with ISRO as it seeks to place a scientific instrument onboard India’s Venus orbiter mission Shukrayaan. This device further seeks to explore Venus.
As reported by India Times, the collaboration has been confirmed by the Ambassador of Sweden to India, Klas Molin.
He said, "IRF's satellite instrument Venusian Neutrals Analyzer (VNA) will study how the charged particles from the Sun interact with the atmosphere and exosphere of the planet," as quoted by PTI.
"The new Venus mission means that the collaboration between IRF and ISRO continues," he added.
ISRO had earlier set a June 2023 date for the Venus sojourn. The Indian space agency has even shortlisted 20 space-based experiment proposals for the same. These projects include "collaborative contributions" from Russia, France, Sweden and Germany, meant to take off aboard a GSLV Mk II rocket.
But all thanks to the coronavirus, the mission has been delayed.
"We are currently reviewing this mission timeline due to delays arising from the pandemic situation", an ISRO official said. "Future launch opportunity is either in 2024 or 2026".
The newly announced collaboration between the IRF and ISRO will be the second of its kind. Swedish officials say that the first generation of a series of miniatured ion and ENA (Energetic Neutral Atoms) instruments, named SARA (Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer), was launched on board ISRO’s Chandrayaan-1. SARA used two sensors to explore the moon in 2008-2009, the website further adds.
The VNA will be the ninth generation of this series by IRF. For the collaboration, Molin said Sweden has quite a lot to provide, both from its institutions and from space tech companies. He also pointed out India’s clear ambition to explore the other planets and to send humans to space.
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