India targets 2028 for Chandrayaan-4 sample-return mission to moon's south pole

[Ajay0]

India is eyeing a 2028 launch for its Chandrayaan-4 moon sample-return mission.

https://www.space.com/the-universe/moon/india-targets-2028-for-chandrayaan-4-sample-return-mission-to-moons-south-pole

Quote

 

India is eyeing a 2028 launch for its Chandrayaan-4 moon sample-return mission, followed by an uncrewed lander and rover in collaboration with Japan.

S. Somanath, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), discussed the upcoming missions during an invited talk in New Delhi last week.

Chandrayaan-4, which aims to collect roughly 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms) of lunar samples from a water-ice-rich area near the moon's south pole and deliver them to Earth, is one of several flagship missions recently approved by the Indian government to boost its space economy. 

The mission's architecture includes five spacecraft modules that will require two launches from ISRO's most powerful rocket, the LVM-3. The first launch will ferry a lander and a sample-collecting ascender vehicle, while the second will fly a transfer module and a reentry module that will remain parked in lunar orbit. As per the mission plan, the ascender carrying the collected samples will launch from the moon's surface and transfer the precious cargo to the reentry module, which will then head back toward Earth for a safe touchdown.

 

 

[sholomar]

This is really where we should start our colonizing efforts before trying places like Mars or one of Jupiter's moons or something like that it's much closer and we can access the same water resources not to mention give ourselves some protection from the solar radiation due to the crater that's there which I guess is called Shackleton crater.

Edited January 1 by sholomar