ISRO exploring mission to moon with Japan

PTI

Ahmedabad, March 22

Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath on Wednesday said ISRO had successfully done significant collaborations on its space missions and was also discussing a possible mission to the moon with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JASA).

Somanath said there was a good opportunity to launch a mission to explore planet Venus by 2028. He was delivering the inaugural talk on "Indian Capabilities for Space and Planetary Exploration" at the 4th Indian Planetary Science Conference organised at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) here.

The ISRO chief said it was important to have a connection between scientific institutions across the world and ISRO in building complex missions. He cited the example of the TRISHNA mission, designed to observe the earth's surface in the thermal infrared domain, which has been developed by ISRO and its French counterpart CNES.

“We are also discussing a possible mission to the moon with JASA where the land rover will be built by them and they will launch it using a Japanese rocket," said Somanath, who is also Secretary of the Department of Space. He said ISRO would look at possible engagement with other agencies in exploratory missions. "It is very important that it will happen only when they have confidence in you and our instruments and measurement systems are complementary to their goals," he said.