Sweden getting on board India’s Venus mission with payload to explore planet

Context

• Sweden is getting on board India’s Venus orbiter mission ‘Shukrayaan’ with a scientific instrument to explore the planet.

What is Venus Mission?

• ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in 2025.
• Venus orbiter mission is known as ‘Shukrayaan’.
• The payload capability of the proposed 2500-kg satellite, planned to be launched on GSLV Mk II rocket, is likely to be 175 kg with 500W of power.
• The proposed orbit is expected to be around 500 x 60,000 km around Venus.
• It will include “collaborative contributions” from Russia, France, Sweden and Germany.

What are its objectives?

• Investigation of the surface processes and shallow subsurface stratigraphy
• Solar wind interaction with Venusian Ionosphere
• Studying the structure, composition and dynamics of the atmosphere

What will be sweden’s contribution?

• 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.
• The VNA would be the ninth generation of IRFs series of miniatured ion and ENA (Energetic Neutral Atoms) instruments.