After the success of Chandrayaan-3, all eyes are now on ISRO’s upcoming lunar missions. In the coming days, the Indian Space Agency is gearing up for two new moon missions, LUPEX and Chandrayaan-4. ISRO has collaborated with the Japanese Space Agency for these new missions.
ISRO’s director, Nilesh Desai, revealed that while Chandrayaan-3 reached 70 degrees on the lunar surface, the LUPEX mission aims to explore areas up to 90 degrees, including the moon’s dark side. The director also mentioned that a large rover, weighing 350 kilograms, will be deployed on the lunar surface for the LUPEX mission, a significant increase from the Chandrayaan-3 rover, which weighed only 30 kilograms.
Discussing the planning behind these moon missions, Director Nilesh Desai stated that following the success of Chandrayaan-3, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed the desire to undertake greater challenges, leading to the planning of Chandrayaan-4. Desai highlighted that Chandrayaan-3 reached 70 degrees, but LUPEX aims to explore up to 90 degrees on the moon’s dark side, including the deployment of a large rover.
Desai also provided insights into the Chandrayaan-4 mission, revealing plans to collect samples from the moon and return them to Earth. The landing process will be similar to Chandrayaan-3, but the central module will return with samples of lunar soil and rocks. This ambitious endeavor is expected to be completed in the next 5 to 7 years.
Chandrayaan-3 made history by successfully landing on the lunar south pole on August 23, marking a significant milestone for space exploration. With these new missions, ISRO is fully prepared to continue making strides in lunar exploration, opening up new possibilities for scientific discovery. It remains to be seen what exciting revelations these two new missions will bring.
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