NEW DELHI (dpa): About a month after India's successful moon landing, the country is planning a major new space challenge - a mission to Venus.
The head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, said on Wednesday (Sept 27) that exploring Venus could provide important insights into the future of our planet, according to the media outlet India Today.
The mission is expected to be launched in the coming years and it aims to study the surface and atmosphere of Venus, he said.
Currently, an Indian probe is on its way to study the Sun. According to ISRO, it will take about four months for it to reach the Sun's orbit, and then, its outermost layers will be analyzed.
In August, India became the fourth country ever to manage a soft landing on the moon.
India's space programme began in the 1960s. In the first decades, the focus was mainly on getting satellites into space cheaply.
India's recent goals have been more ambitious, a sign that it wants a more important place in space exploration. India has also conducted a mission to Mars.
