ISRO's Chandrayaan-3, Aditya L-1 solar mission to avail ESA's support under special deal

In a key development, Indian Research Organisation (ISRO), which is preparing for three major missions in 2022, will receive ground support from European ncy (ESA). assistance will be provided under a special agreement that was signed in June 2021 between ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher and ISRO's former Chairman K Sivan. European ncy anunced that it would use its global deep- communication antennas for ISRO to track Indian craft, pinpointing ir locations at crucial sts, transmitting commands and receiving valuable data.

ncy stated that its 35-metre deep- Estrack antennas, ranging from Australia to Argentina would guide ISRO at every step. 15-metre antenna at Europe’s port in French Guiana's Kourou and commercial 32-metre deep- antenna at Goonhilly station in UK would also be used for additional support. 

ISRO's gears up for Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L-1

While ISRO's pipeline is filled with three biggest missions this year- Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-3 and Aditya L-1 solar mission, last two are what would test ESA's commitment first. Chandrayaan-3, which is targeted for launch in August this year, would mark India's first-ever successful landing on ar celestial body. Under this mission, ISRO would launch a lander and a rover, to scan Moon's south pole for two weeks. 

Ramesh Chellathurai, ESA Service Manr and Liaison Officer for ISRO, said as per European ncy, "Deep communication is an essential part of any mission. Ground stations keep craft safely connected to Earth as y venture into unkwns and risks of . Without ground station support, it’s impossible to get any data from a craft, to kw how it’s doing, to kw if it is safe or even to kw where it is". 

Ar mission to be benefitted from agreement would be Aditya-L1 mission, wherein ISRO will launch a craft to first Lagrange point- about 15 lakh kilometres from Earth. craft is being launched deep into in order to study a number of solar properties, such as dynamics and origins of coronal mass ejections. Explaining importance of a global network of antennae for this mission, Chellathurai explained, " (Aditya) craft will always be in same direction from Earth as Sun. So, as Earth rotates, single ground station will always be in view of Aditya-L1. Using a global station network like ESA’s is best way to exchange data and commands with this craft as often as possible".

Im: Twitter/@ISRO