The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to launch Chandrayaan-4 in 2028 to collect rock and soil samples from the Moon’s south pole.
The launch plan for the Chandrayaan-4 spacecraft and a collaboration with Japan to deploy a lander and a rover on the Moon was shared by S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO, with New Delhi last week.
Image of the Moon’s south pole captured by NASA’s Clementine spacecraft in 1996. (Photo: NASA/JPL/USGS).
Chandrayaan-4 aims to collect approximately 3 kg of lunar soil and rock samples from a water ice-rich area near the Moon’s south pole and bring them back to Earth. This mission is one of several important initiatives recently approved by the Indian government to boost the country’s space economy. A budget of 21 billion rupees (approximately 250 million USD) has been allocated for India’s return to the Moon.
“The Americans and Russians have done this a long time ago, but doing it again today remains a significant challenge – and very costly,” Somanath stated. “We are looking to conduct a mission to the Moon and return at a lower cost.”
The mission is designed to include five spacecraft modules, requiring two launches from ISRO’s most powerful rocket, LVM-3. The first launch will deliver a lander and a sample-collecting spacecraft, while the second will carry a transfer module and a reentry module, which will dock in lunar orbit. According to the plan, the sample-collecting module will launch from the Moon’s surface and transfer the valuable “cargo” to the reentry module. The reentry module will then return to Earth.
To practice the docking of two spacecraft in orbit—one of the most challenging aspects of Chandrayaan-4—ISRO will launch a Spacecraft Docking Experiment (SPADEX) worth 14 million USD by the end of this year or early 2025, according to Deccan Herald.
Other indigenous technologies being developed for the lunar mission include a robotic arm to scoop lunar soil and a drilling mechanism to collect samples from a few meters below the surface, according to ISRO.
The landing area has not yet been officially announced. Previous reports indicated that the mission would aim to land near the Shiv Shakti point, close to the Moon’s south pole, where the now-inactive Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft previously landed.
The abundance of water ice at the Moon’s south pole has made it a major focus for spacefaring nations, as scientists suspect that this ice could be harvested to support life and produce rocket fuel. Earlier this week, NASA selected nine potential landing sites near the Moon’s south pole for the first crewed landing, Artemis 3. China also has upcoming missions targeting the south pole and aims to send astronauts to the Moon before the end of this decade.
“We are all excited to design and develop this complex mission – Chandrayaan-4 – and make it a reality by 2028,” Somanath said.
Earlier, in August 2023, the Vikram lander of the Chandrayaan-3 mission successfully landed in the vicinity of the Moon’s south pole. The success of Chandrayaan-3 made India the fourth country in the world to land on the Moon’s surface, following the Soviet Union, the United States, and China. The mission also marked India’s emergence as a new space power.
Simulation of the Vikram lander and the Pragyan rover in the Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission. (Photo: ISRO).
The first lunar mission in India’s Chandrayaan program was Chandrayaan-1, launched in 2008. The mission included an orbiter that mapped the geology, minerals, and chemistry of the Moon at an altitude of 100 km. After the spacecraft completed all its primary mission objectives, its orbit was raised to 200 km in May 2009. The mission ended when communication was lost with it in late August 2009.
In 2019, India launched the Chandrayaan-2 mission, aiming to land a spacecraft on the Moon, but it failed. The lander and rover were destroyed upon impact near the intended landing site of Chandrayaan-3. Meanwhile, the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter successfully deployed and continues to orbit the Moon.
