The Indian Space Research Organisation has set plans to explore the Moon with the Chandrayaan-4 mission after its historic success with Chandrayaan-3 in 2023.
Isro chief S Somnath, in his presentation at the National Space Science Symposium, revealed multiple aspects of India's next lunar mission that will aim to not just land on the Moon, but also return with the first samples of rocks and soils known as lunar regolith.
The primary objective will be to collect samples from the lunar surface and return the samples safely to Earth for scientific studies. Only three countries in the world have been able to do it, which includes the United States with its Apollo missions, the Soviet Union with its Luna program and China with its Chang'e missions.
The fourth mission part of the Chandrayaan series will have multiple objectives on the Moon throughout its mission span. These include:
To perform a safe and soft landing on the lunar surface
To demonstrate lunar sample collection and containerisation
To demonstrate ascend from the Moon's surface
To demonstrate docking and undocking in Lunar orbit
To demonstrate the transfer of samples from one module to another
To demonstrate return and re-entry to Earth for sample delivery
The Chandrayaan-4 mission will be much more complex scientifically and engineering-wise. It will not only have to land on the Moon, but also launch back and dock with a transfer module in lunar orbit. Then it will have to conduct a return journey from the Moon to Earth in a neatly orchestrated dance of orbital dynamics.
Isro has already said that this will be a two-phase mission, which will be launched on two launch vehicles including the LVM-3 and the PSLV. The Chandrayaan-4 components will consist of five spacecraft modules that will have different roles in one of the most challenging and complex missions attempted by the Indian space agency.
The five components of the Chandrayaan-4 mission will not be launched together. According to Isro Chief, India's heaviest launch vehicle LVM-3 will launch with three components, which will include the Propulsion Module, the Descender Module and the Ascender Module.
The Transfer Module and the Re-entry Module will be launched aboard a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV).
