The first ever venture into Venus is part of the country’s space exploration, claimed the topmost ISRO scientists here on Wednesday.

“We are waiting for the final approval and work is in progress,” said Dr Subbaiah Arunan, project director, Mars Orbiter Mission of Isro (Indian Space Research Organization) here this afternoon on the sidelines of the silver jubilee celebration of Dr B C Roy Engineering College.

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He said, “We’ve plans to research Mars more precisely, prepare a 3D atlas of the red planet, explore its geology, minerals and atmosphere for future landings there.” About the expedition for life on Mars, Dr Arunan said: “It’s quite promising, though no concrete evidence could be gathered as yet. Still, I’d say, data made available to us during the last mission on this were yet to be scrutinised in collaboration with some international agencies and it looks promising.”

About Mars Lander Mission, Dr Arunan said: “We’ve approved the MLM programme as a continuation of Chandrayan Mission, which is being studied and it’s a part of Isro’s advanced studies of planetary issues and we are waiting for the government approval.”

About difficulties faced during the last Mars Mission, Dr Arunan told The Statesman: “We’ve taken corrective measures from our previous experience and now for another enhanced mission, things are going to be more precise.”

Interplanetary travel, radiation risks, entry and landing and adequate resource utilization were the challenges Mission Mars had faced. Dr Arunan, about the country’s much ambitious Mission Venus told The Statesman, “It’s much more complex than the Mars mission. An accurate modeling is required as a minor deviation in the trajectory needs to be avoided with much more care.”

Isro had initiated the concept of Mission Venus requesting payload proposals in 2012 from the country’s research organisations and is scheduled to kick off in 2031, the sources said.