FUTURE PROJECTS OF ISRO

ISRO plans to launch a number of Earth observation satellites in the near future. It will also undertake
the development of new launch vehicle, crewed spacecraft, and probes to Mars and near-Earth objects.

FORTHCOMING SATTELITES

1. PSLV-C44: It is expected to be launched in January 2019. the ISRO is working on a new technology
where it will use the last stage of the PSLV rocket for space experiments. It will perform a technology
demonstration of this new system which makes ISRO the only space agency to use its rocket stage
after launching a satellite.
2. GSAT-20: It is expected to be launched in 2019.
3. CARTOSAT-3: It is expected to be launched in 2019. It is a follow up to CARTOSAT-2
4. IRNSS-1J: It is expected to be launched in 2019.
5. GSAT-30: It is expected to be launched from French arianespace in 2019.
6. GSAT-31: It is expected to be launched from French arianespace in 2019.
7. GISAT 1: Geospatial imagery to facilitate continuous observation of Indian sub-continent, quick
monitoring of natural hazards and disaster.
8. NISAR: NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (Nisar) is a joint project between NASA and ISRO to co-
develop and launch a dual frequency synthetic aperture radar satellite to be used for remote
sensing. It is notable for being the first dual band radar imaging satellite.

FUTURE EXTRATERRESTRIAL EXPLORATION

Destination Craft name Launch vehicle Year

Moon Chandrayaan-2 GSLV III 2019

Sun Aditya-L1 PSLV-XL 2021

Mars Orbiter Mission 2

Mars GSLV III 2021-22
(Mangalyaan 2)

Shukrayaan-1
Venus GSLV III 2023
(Venus Mission)

Chandrayaan-2
Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III is intended as a launch vehicle for crewed missions
under the Indian Human Spaceflight Programme announced in Prime Minister Modi's 2018
Independence Day speech.
Chandrayaan-2 (चंद्रयान) will be India's second mission to the Moon, which will include an orbiter and
lander-rover module. Chandrayaan-2 will be launched on India's Geosynchronous Satellite Launch
Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-MkIII) in 2019. The science goals of the mission are to further improve the
understanding of the origin and evolution of the Moon.

Mars Orbiter Mission 2

The next Mars mission, Mars Orbiter Mission 2, also called Mangalyaan 2, will likely be launched in 2021
or 2022. It will have a less elliptical orbit around Mars and could weigh seven times more than the first
mission.This orbiter mission will facilitate scientific community to address the open science problems.
The science payload of the proposed satellite is likely to be 100 kg.

Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III is intended as a

launch vehicle for crewed missions under the Indian Human
Spaceflight Programme announced in Prime Minister Modi's 2018
Independence Day speech

Solar Orbiter
ISRO plans to carry out a mission to the Sun by the year 2019–20. The probe is named Aditya-1 and will
weigh about 400 kg. It is the first Indian space-based solar coronagraph to study the corona in visible
and near-IR bands. Launch of the Aditya mission was planned during the heightened solar activity period
in 2012, but was postponed to 2019–2020 due to the extensive work involved in the fabrication, and
other technical aspects. The main objective of the mission is to study coronal mass ejections (CMEs),
their properties (the structure and evolution of their magnetic fields for example), and consequently
constrain parameters that affect space weather.

Venus and Jupiter

The ISRO is in the process of conducting conceptual studies that could take up to two years before
deciding on a plan to send a spacecraft to Jupiter or Venus. The ideal launch window to send a
spacecraft to Jupiter occurs every 33 months. If the missions occur, a visit to both planets would happen
simultaneously. Venus would be visited first, then Jupiter. It would take a little over 3 months to go to
Venus, and would take 23 months to travel from Earth to the Jovian orbit.

ISRO is assessing an Indian Venusian orbiter mission by 2023 to study its atmosphere. Jacques Blamont,
an astrophysicist, has offered to help the Indian Space Research Organisation with gigantic balloons
carrying several instruments designed to operate above the extremely hot atmosphere of the planet
after being deployed from the orbiter. Some budget has been allocated to study such mission to Venus
as part of 2017–18 Indian budget under Space Sciences.

Lunar missions
ISRO is planning a joint lunar mission with Japan's Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to explore the
polar regions of the moon for water. A mission proposal is expected by March 2019.
SPACE TRANSPORTATION

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle

Small Satellite Launch Vehicle or SSLV is in development for commercially launching small satellites with
a payload of 500 kg to Low Earth Orbit. SSLV would be four staged vehicle with three solid propellant
based stages and a Velocity Trimming Module. The maiden flight is expected mid 2019 from Satish
Dhawan Space Centre.

Reusable Launch Vehicle-Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD)

As a first step towards realizing a two-stage-to-orbit (TSTO) fully re-usable launch vehicle, a series of
technology demonstration missions have been conceived. For this purpose, the winged Reusable Launch
Vehicle Technology Demonstrator (RLV-TD) has been configured. The RLV-TD is acting as a flying test
bed to evaluate various technologies such as hypersonic flight, autonomous landing, powered cruise
flight and hypersonic flight using air-breathing propulsion.

First in the series of demonstration trials was the Hypersonic Flight Experiment (HEX). ISRO launched the
prototype's test flight from the Sriharikota spaceport in February 2016. The prototype- 'the RLV-TD'
weighs around 1.5 tonnes and flew up to a height of 70 km. The test flight, known as HEX, was
completed on 23 May 2016. The scaled up version of could serve as fly-back booster stage for winged
TSTO concept.

Unified Launch Vehicle

The ULV or Unified Launch Vehicle is a launch vehicle in development by the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO). The project's core objective is to design a modular architecture that will enable the
replacement of the PSLV, GSLV Mk II and GSLV Mk III with a single family of launchers. The SCE-200
engine can even be clustered for heavy launch configuration. The ULV will be able to launch 6000 kg to
10,000 kg of payload into GTO. This will mark the renunciation of the liquid stage with Vikas engine,
which uses toxic UDMH and N2O4.
 APPLICATIONS
Telecommunication
India uses its satellites communication network – one of the largest in the world – for applications such
as land management, water resources management, natural disaster forecasting, radio networking,
weather forecasting, meteorological imaging and computer communication. Business, administrative
services, and schemes such as the National Informatics Centre (NIC) are direct beneficiaries of applied
satellite technology. Dinshaw Mistry, on the subject of practical applications of the Indian space
program, writes:

"The INSAT-2 satellites also provide telephone links to remote areas; data transmission for organisations
such as the National Stock Exchange; mobile satellite service communications for private operators,
railways, and road transport; and broadcast satellite services, used by India's state-owned television
agency as well as commercial television channels. India's EDUSAT (Educational Satellite), launched
aboard the GSLV in 2004, was intended for adult literacy and distance learning applications in rural
areas. It augmented and would eventually replace such capabilities already provided by INSAT-3B."

Resource management
The IRS satellites have found applications with the Indian Natural Resource Management program, with
Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres in five Indian cities, and with Remote Sensing Application
Centres in twenty Indian states that use IRS images for economic development applications. These
include environmental monitoring, analysing soil erosion and the impact of soil conservation measures,
forestry management, determining land cover for wildlife sanctuaries, delineating groundwater
potential zones, flood inundation mapping, drought monitoring, estimating crop acreage and deriving
agricultural production estimates, fisheries monitoring, mining and geological applications such as
surveying metal and mineral deposits, and urban planning.

Military
India's satellites and satellite launch vehicles have had military spin-offs. While India's 93–124-mile
(150–200-kilometre) range Prithvi missile is not derived from the Indian space programme, the
intermediate range Agni missile is drawn from the Indian space programme's SLV-3. In its early years,
when headed by Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan, ISRO opposed military applications for its dual-use
projects such as the SLV-3. Eventually, however, the Defence Research and Development Organisation
(DRDO) based missile programme borrowed human resources and technology from ISRO. Missile
scientist A.P.J. Abdul Kalam (elected president of India in 2002), who had headed the SLV-3 project at
ISRO, moved to DRDO to direct India's missile programme. About a dozen scientists accompanied Kalam
from ISRO to DRDO, where he designed the Agni missile using the SLV-3's solid fuel first stage and a
liquid-fuel (Prithvi-missile-derived) second stage. The IRS and INSAT satellites were primarily intended
and used for civilian-economic applications, but they also offered military spin-offs. In 1996 New Delhi's
Ministry of Defence temporarily blocked the use of IRS-1C by India's environmental and agricultural
ministries to monitor ballistic missiles near India's borders. In 1997 the Indian Air Force's "Airpower
Doctrine" aspired to use space assets for surveillance and battle management.
Academic
Institutions like the Indira Gandhi National Open University and the Indian Institutes of Technology use
satellites for scholarly applications. Between 1975 and 1976, India conducted its largest sociological
programme using space technology, reaching 2400 villages through video programming in local
languages aimed at educational development via ATS-6 technology developed by NASA. This
experiment—named Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE)—conducted large scale video
broadcasts resulting in significant improvement in rural education. Education could reach far remote
rural places with the help of above programs.

Telemedicine
ISRO has applied its technology for telemedicine, directly connecting patients in rural areas to medical
professionals in urban locations via satellites. Since high-quality healthcare is not universally available in
some of the remote areas of India, the patients in remote areas are diagnosed and analysed by doctors
in urban centers in real time via video conferencing. The patient is then advised medicine and
treatment. The patient is then treated by the staff at one of the 'super-specialty hospitals' under
instructions from the doctor. Mobile telemedicine vans are also deployed to visit locations in far-flung
areas and provide diagnosis and support to patients.

Biodiversity Information System

ISRO has also helped implement India's Biodiversity Information System, completed in October 2002.
Nirupa Sen details the program: "Based on intensive field sampling and mapping using satellite remote
sensing and geospatial modeling tools, maps have been made of vegetation cover on a 1: 250,000 scale.
This has been put together in a web-enabled database that links gene-level information of plant species
with spatial information in a BIOSPEC database of the ecological hot spot regions, namely northeastern
India, Western Ghats, Western Himalayas and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. This has been made
possible with collaboration between the Department of Biotechnology and ISRO.

Cartography
The Indian IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT-1) was equipped with high-resolution panchromatic equipment to enable
it for cartographic purposes. IRS-P5 (CARTOSAT-1) was followed by a more advanced model named IRS-
P6 developed also for agricultural applications. The CARTOSAT-2 project, equipped with single
panchromatic camera that supported scene-specific on-spot images, succeeded the CARTOSAT-1
project.