Shukrayaan-1 Mission: From launch date to budget, here's what you need to know

Shukrayaan-1: After achieving a historic milestone on August 23, 2023, by becoming the first nation to successfully land on the South Pole of the Moon, ISRO’s next mission is Venus.

ISRO's Shukrayaan 1 mission, focused on Venus exploration, is scheduled for launch in December 2024. Remarkably, the concept for this mission was conceived back in 2012.

Shukrayaan-1 Budget

The upcoming ISRO mission to Venus, known as Shukrayaan 1, is projected to cost between ₹500 crore to ₹1,000 crore, depending on the level of instrumentation. S. Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), provided this estimate.

Shukrayaan-1 Launch Date

Launching a mission from Earth to Venus at the optimal time occurs approximately every 19 months. ISRO has also identified alternative launch opportunities in 2026 and 2028.

The delay in launching Shukrayaan 1 from its originally planned mid-2023 schedule to December 2024 was attributed to the pandemic, which disrupted manufacturing processes and commitments to commercial launch services. This delay also had ripple effects on other ISRO projects, including Aditya L-1 and Chandrayaan-3.

Shukrayaan 1 is designed as an orbiter mission, equipped with advanced scientific payloads, including a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar and a ground-penetrating radar. These instruments will enable comprehensive research on Venus's geological and volcanic activities, surface emissions, wind patterns, cloud cover, and other planetary characteristics.