New Delhi,UPDATED: Feb 28, 2024 19:33 IST
After the historic success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission, the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is gearing up for its next lunar voyage – Chandrayaan-4 – which will likely launch around 2028.
Dr. Nilesh Desai of ISRO’s Space Applications Centre (SAC) told India Today that the next mission Chandrayaan-4 will launch in 2028, and is also called the LUPEX mission.
Chandrayaan-4 aims to build on the accomplishments of the recently concluded Chandrayaan-3 mission while attempting more complex objectives. If successful, Chandrayaan-4 will make India only the fourth nation to bring back samples from the lunar surface.
The Indian space agency is also planning to send Indians to the Moon by 2040. “We have the next 15 years to send a man to the moon,” said Nilesh Desai, outlining the agency’s long-term vision.
The mission intends to land near the south pole and collect rock samples which will be returned to Earth for analysis. This data could provide insights on lunar resources like water which may support future human colonization.
Chandrayaan-4 will deploy a 350-kg rover capable of traversing larger distances compared to its predecessor. The lander will perform the tricky maneuver of touching down along the hazardous rims of lunar craters that have been unexplored thus far.
The mission will likely utilise India’s heavy-lift GSLV Mk III or LVM3 launch vehicles. However, the success hinges on safely retrieving the samples and bringing them back to Earth – a technically challenging endeavour that will require two launches.
The landing will be similar to Chandrayan-3 but the central module will come back after docking with the orbiting module which will later separate above Earth to re-enter the atmosphere and drop the samples.
Isro has already demonstrated a hop experiment with Vikram to show a spacecraft could lift from the Moon’s surface, and the Orbiter returned to Earth from the Moon, showing a return trajectory can be achieved.
Shambhu Kumar is a science communicator, making complex scientific topics accessible to all. His articles explore breakthroughs in various scientific disciplines, from space exploration to cutting-edge research.
