List of India's ISRO Space Missions

List of India’s ISRO Space Missions

Check here India's ambitious space exploration endeavors with a comprehensive list of its current missions, including lunar landings, solar studies, and human spaceflight initiatives.

Table of Contents

Over the past year, ISRO has made significant strides with several key missions. India has several space missions currently underway. Read this article to know the List of India’s Ongoing Space Missions in 2024. Union Cabinet has approved various space programmes including Chandrayaan 4, Venus Orbiter Mission etc.

List of ISRO’s Ongoing Space Missions

Name of Space Missions	Details
Aditya L-1	Aditya L1 is India’s solar science mission aimed at studying the Sun from the Earth-Sun Lagrange point (L1). It observed a solar storm in May 2024. Mission focuses on understanding solar activities and their impact on space weather.
Gaganyaan	It aims to launch a crew of three members into a 400-kilometre orbit for a three-day mission before safely returning to Earth in the Indian sea waters. The Gaganyaan spacecraft will be positioned in a low earth orbit (LEO) ranging from 300 to 400 kilometres, propelled into space via an LVM 3 rocket, enabling astronauts to reach space in just 16 minutes. On October 21, 2023, ISRO conducted its first abort mission for the Gaganyaan human spaceflight program using a modified L-40 Vikas engine.
XPoSAT	XPoSat, or X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, is India’s first mission to study the dynamics of bright astronomical X-ray sources in extreme conditions. The satellite will study the polarisation of X-rays from 50 of the brightest known sources in the universe, including black holes, neutron stars, pulsars, and active galactic nuclei.
INSAT-3DS	It is a meteorological satellite launched to support GSLV credibility for the NISAR mission. It will enhance India’s weather forecasting capabilities.
RLV-TD	ISRO has already conducted 2 successful Reusable Launch Vehicle tests (LEX-02 and LEX-03) using a reusable Launch Vehicle, called Pushpak. Success in these tests gave ISRO the confidence to move on to the ‘Orbital Return Flight Experiment’.
Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV)	It’s a three-stage vehicle with solid propulsion stages and a liquid propulsion Velocity Trimming Module (VTM) as the terminal stage. The SSLV is designed to launch satellites into a 500 km planar orbit and can carry payloads of up to 500 kg.
Private Space Missions	Agnikula Cosmos successfully launched its SoRTeD-01 vehicle from its launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota. This was the first launch of a vehicle powered by a semi-cryogenic engine as its first stage from Indian soil. Skyroot Aerospace is progressing towards the launch of its Vikram 1 rocket.

List of India’s Upcoming Space Mission

Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM)

It is a planned mission by the ISRO aimed at exploring Venus, Earth’s closest planetary neighbour. It is also known as ShukraYaan-1.
Scheduled Launch: March 2028
Objectives
- Surface and Atmospheric Study: To investigate the surface and subsurface characteristics of Venus, including geological composition and volcanic activity.
- Atmospheric Chemistry: To analyse the atmospheric dynamics and chemical processes, including studying solar irradiance and its effects on the Venusian atmosphere.
- Understanding Planetary Evolution: The mission aims to provide insights into why Venus evolved differently from Earth, despite their similar sizes and initial conditions.

Chandrayaan 4 Mission

Mission Objective: It aims to bring rock and soil samples back from the Moon.
Modules: The Chandrayaan-4 spacecraft will consist of five modules, unlike Chandrayaan-3, which had three.
Landing and Sample Collection: Two modules will detach from the main spacecraft, land on the Moon, and collect samples.
- One of these will then launch itself back to the main spacecraft in lunar orbit, where the samples will be transferred.
Sample Return: The samples will be moved to an Earth re-entry vehicle, launched separately, which will return the samples to Earth.
Docking Operations: The mission will involve docking space modules twice, introducing a new capability for ISRO that will be first tested in the upcoming Spadex mission.

TRISHNA

It stands for Thermal Infra-Red Imaging Satellite for High-resolution Natural Resource Assessment (TRISHNA) mission.
Agencies Involved: Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the French Space Agency (CNES).
Features:
- The mission will use two primary payloads: a Thermal Infra-Red (TIR) payload and a Visible – Near Infra-Red – ShortWave Infra-Red (VNIR-SWIR) payload.
- It will operate in a Sun-synchronous (SSO) orbit for a period of five years.
- Scheduled Launch: In 2026 from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre on a PSLV rocket.
Objectives:
- Understand water use and stress in ecosystems.
- To assess urban heat islands and provide heat alerts.
- To detect thermal anomalies linked to geothermal resources and volcanic activity.
- To Monitor climate through tracking droughts, measuring evapotranspiration rates, and monitoring permafrost changes.

Achievements of India’s Space Missions

India’s Space Research Organization (ISRO) has made significant achievements through its ongoing space missions, showcasing its growing capabilities and technological advancements.

Chandrayaan-3 marked a historic achievement for India by successfully landing on the lunar surface on August 23, 2023. This made India the fourth country in the world, after the USA, the Soviet Union, and China, to achieve a soft landing on the Moon.
Aditya-L1 is India’s first mission dedicated to studying the Sun. The successful initiation of this mission represents a major step forward in understanding solar activities and their impact on space weather.
Gaganyaan mission, though still in progress, has achieved several milestones, including the development of indigenous crew modules, environmental control and life support systems, and astronaut training programs.
While still in the planning stages, the Mangalyaan-2 mission builds on the success of Mangalyaan (Mars Orbiter Mission), which made India the first Asian nation to reach Martian orbit and the fourth space agency in the world to do so. The continuation of this mission underscores ISRO’s commitment to planetary exploration.
NISAR represents a significant achievement in international collaboration, combining ISRO’s and NASA’s expertise to create a highly advanced Earth observation satellite.
RISAT series has significantly enhanced India’s capabilities in all-weather, day-and-night surveillance, which is crucial for national security, disaster management, and agricultural monitoring.