France opts out of partnership with Russia in developing ISRO's Venus orbiter: Report

India's ambitions to explore Venus might be shelved for long as France is refusing to cooperate with Russia in developing a crucial component for Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) orbiter. A report by Russian news agency TASS said that this revelation was me by Oleg Korablev, deputy director of Space Research Institute of Russian Acemy of Sciences.

component France and Russia were supposed to cooperate for is a spectroscopic device that would study atmosphere of Venus through spectroscopy, study of light spectrum emerging from different sources. Besides, some or components of orbiter were supposed to be contributed by France, however, Korablev said that y can be bought from a new supplier. He furr revealed that key element of orbiter would be a detector and will be Russian-me.

"We have solved  issue (with components), we are conducting all preparatory stages, (we are also) looking for suppliers, everything is in order", Korablev told TASS News. 

When will mission launch?

ISRO's Venus orbiter was targeted for launch in December 2024 but degring relations between France and Russia due to Ukraine crisis might delay this mission to early next dece. aforementioned timeline was chosen because of a brief launch window that opens at time which could be leveraged to reach Venus with minimal fuel expenditure. If ISRO is successful in launching mission in 2024, orbiter would enter Venus' orbit in 2025, orwise, wait would extend to 2031 when a similar feasible launch window opens next. 

With Venus mission, ISRO aims to study processes on Venusian surface, conduct shallow sub-surface stratigraphy, analyse structure and dynamics of atmosphere. Studying  interaction of solar wind with Venusian ionosphere is also among objectives. 

Talking about mission, Korbalev said re is no confirmation on date of launch at time point since mission has not been approved by Indian government. "It depends on Indian partners, so far y haven't fully decided when. And wher it will happen at all. mission has not been finally approved", official said. 

Unfortunately, Korablev said that Russia would not be able to supply necessary components on schedule since Roscosmos is not financing development due to a lack of confirmation from India. During an online meeting on Venus science in May this year, ISRO Chairman S Somanath said that Venus expedition is expected to cost between Rs500 crore and Rs1,000 crore.