Continuing its space odyssey after missions to the Moon and Mars, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has put its spotlight on Venus. ISRO has also collaborated with Japan to explore the dark side of the Moon. In an effort to make its groove in space supremacy, the Indian space agency has collaborated with Japan to send a lunar rover to explore the permanent shadow region of the Moon, reported PTI.
Making a presentation on ISRO’s future missions at the Akash Tattva conference Dehradun, Anil Bhardwaj, Director of the Ahmedabad-based Physical Research Laboratory, said ISRO was in talks with the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) for sending a lunar rover to explore the permanent shadow region of the Moon.
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ISRO will send its lunar lander and rover to the south pole of the moon with the help of a Japanese rocket, he said and added it will then travel to the permanent shadow region of the Moon which never sees sunlight.
According to the PTI report, Aditya L-1, ISRO’s mission to study the solar atmosphere, would be placed in an orbit around the Sun that could continuously view the star from a point called the Lagrange Point L-1.
The orbit would be located 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth to learn the coronal heating, solar wind and coronal mass ejection, flares and near-earth space weather.
The Aditya L-1 and the Chandrayaan-3 missions could take off next year and would be followed by the mission to Venus and the mission to the Moon, said Bhardwaj.