India and France to work together to launch Venus mission in 2025.
ISRO is scheduled to launch its Venus mission in 2025 and France will participate in it, French space agency CNES said on Wednesday. The VIRAL (Venus Infrared Atmospheric Gases Linker) instrument co-developed with the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos and the LATMOS atmospheres, environments and space observations laboratory attached to the French national scientific research centre CNRS has been selected by the ISRO after a request for proposals, according to a statement.
K Sivan the chairman of ISRO and Jean-Yves Le Gall president of CNES held talks and reviewed the areas driving cooperation between France and India in space. “In the domain of space exploration, France will be taking part in ISRO’s mission to Venus, scheduled to launch in 2025. CNES will coordinate and prepare the French contribution, the first time a French payload will be flown on an Indian exploration mission,” CNES said in a statement.
France and India share a robust collaboration in arena of the space. It is one of the three nations with whom India collaborates in the strategic sectors of nuclear, space and defence — the other two being the US and Russia.
“The two nations are pooling their expertise, notably in the domains of space medicine, astronaut health monitoring, and life support. Initial exchanges have concentrated on training for India’s flight physicians and technical teams and the supply of CNES flight systems,” it added.
