New Delhi: Chandrayaan 3 Project Director P Veeramuthuvel presented mission concepts for the Chandrayaan 4 and Chandrayaan 5/LUPEX missions at the International Astronautical Congress 2024 in Milan, Italy. The complex mission has multiple elements and will require a series of docking and undocking operations both in Earth orbit and in lunar orbit. To accomplish this sample return mission, ISRO will be launching the two stacks in two LVM3 flights, the mightiest rocket in its operational fleet. The two stacks will mate in the GTO orbit before jumping to the Moon for the landing. ISRO will attempt to retrieve three kilograms of lunar material, using a lander equipped with scoop as well as a drill that will try and reach two metres of depth, each of which will store the samples in an isolated chamber.
The Chandrayaan 4 stack with the Lander, Ascender, Returner, Reentry and Propulsion Modules. (Image Credit: ISRO).
An ascender module will then lift off from the lunar surface to lunar orbit, and transfer the material to a sample returner, which will make the jump back to Earth, and release the reentry module to deliver the samples by passing through the atmosphere. Veeramuthuvel said, “This will also demonstrate our capability for crew landing mission. We have landed, now we are coming back from the surface to Moon orbit, and again from the Moon orbit finally, we will be coming to the Earth, crossing the atmosphere.” The Chandrayaan 5 mission involves a larger lander with a precision landing in a region close to the lunar south pole, with JAXA providing the launch vehicle and the rover for the mission.
Timelines for the Chandrayaan 4, 5 missions
ISRO is aiming to launch the Chandrayaan 4 mission in 2027-28 and the Chandrayaan 5 mission by 2028-29. This will be followed up by at least two more Chandrayaan missions, aimed at extracting the local regolith, converting it into ink for 3D printing, demonstrating additive manufacturing on the Moon. ISRO is looking to accomplish the Chandrayaan 6 and 7 missions by 2035. The Chandrayaan Programme along with the Gaganyaan Programme are expected to provide ISRO with the capabilities for landing an Indian on the Moon by 2040, and setting up a Moon base by 2047.
