India Greenlights Ambitious Venus Orbiter Mission

The Union Cabinet has approved the Venus Orbiter Mission, aimed at exploring and understanding Venus's surface, subsurface, and atmospheric processes. Managed by the Department of Space, the mission will place a scientific spacecraft in Venus's orbit. An allocation of Rs 1,236 crore has been made for this project.

The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the development of a Venus Orbiter Mission for exploring and studying the planet. The mission, led by the Department of Space, will place a scientific spacecraft in Venus's orbit to better understand its surface, subsurface, atmospheric processes, and the Sun's influence on its atmosphere.

Venus, Earth's closest planetary neighbor and believed to have formed under similar conditions, provides a unique opportunity to study planetary environments that have evolved differently. This mission aims to uncover the underlying causes of Venus's transformation from a once Earth-like and potentially habitable planet to its current state.

The Cabinet has allocated Rs 1,236 crore for the mission, of which Rs 824 crore will be used for developing the spacecraft by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

(With inputs from agencies.)