00:00 The countdown for India�s Independence Day this year has begun.
00:06 India will be celebrating her 76th anniversary of freedom and 77th year of independence this
00:11 15th of August.
00:13 Since her independence, India has come a long way in various fields and today the country
00:18 stands as a testament to innovation and groundbreaking developments.
00:22 But India�s space exploration programs are unrivaled in the entire world.
00:26 From humble beginnings of rocket science in the country to contemporaneous trailblazing
00:30 space missions, India is at the forefront of space explorations.
00:34 As the independence day approaches, we take a look at some of the most crucial and important
00:39 space missions that ISRO has lined up.
00:46 Missions that are ongoing as well as those that are in store in the coming days.
00:51 Chandrayaan-3 India�s third lunar mission lifted off into space on July 14 and it entered
00:56 into lunar orbit on August 5.
00:58 The lander, Vikram, is slated for soft landing on 23rd August.
01:03 There are three more deorbiting maneuvers left.
01:05 Exercises to bring it closer to the moon so that Vikram lands on the lunar surface on
01:10 August 23.
01:12 These deorbiting maneuvers will be performed on August 9, August 14 and August 16 till
01:17 its orbit reduces to 100 km into 100 km from the moon.
01:22 While the mission is not a replica of Chandrayaan-2 which crash-landed on the moon, it will use
01:27 its predecessor�s orbiter which is already hovering above the lunar surface.
01:32 The mission�s propulsion module will carry the lander and rover configuration to an orbit
01:36 that is about 100 km above the moon�s surface.
01:40 The module is also carrying a SHAPE payload to study the spectral and polarimetric measurements
01:44 of Earth from the lunar orbit.
01:47 After the successful soft landing, India will become the first country in the world to have
01:51 achieved a soft landing on the lunar surface.
01:58 The next important one in line is the Aditya L1 mission.
02:01 This would be the first observatory-class space-based solar mission from India.
02:05 The Aditya L1 mission will be placed in the Lagrange Point 1, i.e. L1.
02:10 The L1 point of the Earth-to-Sun system provides an uninterrupted view of the Sun and is currently
02:16 home to the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory Satellite of NASA.
02:20 This position provides a greater advantage of observing solar activities continuously.
02:25 Aditya L1 will carry seven payloads to observe the photosphere, chromosphere and the outermost
02:30 layers of the Sun, i.e. the corona, using electromagnetic and particle detectors.
02:36 Four payloads will directly view the Sun from the unique vantage point of L1 and the remaining
02:40 three will carry out in-situ studies of particles and fields at the Lagrange Point L1.
02:47 The next crucial one will be a joint mission of ISRO and NASA that will be launched in
02:51 2024.
02:52 The acronym for the mission is NISAR, which stands for NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar.
02:58 NISAR will observe almost every region of our planet at least once every 12 days, providing
03:03 valuable insights into the dynamics of forests, wetlands and agricultural lands, among other
03:08 aspects.
03:09 The spacecraft will consist of an S-band radar and an L-band instrument, with the latter
03:15 having the capability to penetrate dense forest canopies.
03:18 Both sensors would be capable of collecting data day and night by operating through clouds.
03:23 The dual-band synthetic aperture radar will operate with SWIFT-SAR technique to achieve
03:29 large swathes with high-resolution data.
03:33 Fourth is Gaganyaan.
03:34 First conceived in 2007 but announced in 2018, Gaganyaan will be a crewed orbital spacecraft
03:40 intended to demonstrate the nation's human spaceflight capabilities, conduct experiments
03:45 in microgravity and pave the way for future space exploration missions and put Indian
03:50 astronauts back in space.
03:52 The target for the first crewed mission involves the development of a new spacecraft which
03:56 would carry a crew of two to three astronauts into low-Earth orbit and bring them back safely.
04:02 Gaganyaan is intended to further national inspiration for space exploration, aiming
04:07 to make India the fourth country in the world to achieve human spaceflight capacity after
04:11 the United States, Russia and China.
04:14 It is also aimed to enhance India's technological capabilities in space and renew the interest
04:19 of the country's youth in science and technology and aerospace.
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