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India plans to collect rock samples at the south pole of the Moon and deliver them to Earth within a few years.
In August 2023, India became the first country in the world to land its spacecraft near the south pole of the Moon. This happened as part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission. Now it has become known that India is preparing the Chandrayaan-4 mission for 2028 to collect rock samples in the same region of the Moon and deliver them to Earth. This Asian country is also preparing to land its astronauts on the Earth's satellite, writes Space.
The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) announced that the Chandrayaan-4 mission, scheduled for 2028, will collect approximately 3 kg of lunar rock samples from the water ice-filled region near the moon's south pole. These samples will then be brought back to Earth for study. The Indian government has already allocated 250 million dollars for this mission. Given that this amount is very large even for India, ISRO is going to put in the budget to carry out the mission with low costs. For comparison, the budget of some Hollywood blockbusters can be 200-250 million dollars.
It became known that the Chandrayaan-4 mission will consist of four spacecraft with different purposes. During two launches on the most powerful Indian launch vehicle LVM-3, the devices will be delivered to the moon.
During the first launch to the moon will be delivered:
- a landing module that will collect samples not only on the surface with the help of a robotic manipulator, but also from under the surface of the Moon (at a depth of several meters) with the help of a special drilling mechanism;
- lifting module for delivery of collected samples to lunar orbit.
The second launch will deliver the transport module and launch capsule in which the samples will arrive on Earth. These devices will remain in orbit around the Moon.
According to the Chandrayaan-4 mission plan, once the lander has collected samples, they will be loaded into the lift module, then flown into a bare orbit, where they will be transferred to the transport module. It will fly to Earth and release a capsule with samples.
ISRO has not yet announced the exact landing site of the Chandrayaan-4 mission, but it may be close to where the Chandrayaan-3 mission landed.
It also became known that India planned to launch to the moon, after the successful completion of the Chandrayaan-4 mission, the joint Chandrayaan-5 mission with Japan. Japan will provide a 350 kg lunar rover for the mission, which will be 12 times heavier than India's Chandrayaan-3 lunar rover (27 kg).
The upcoming missions are part of India's efforts to land astronauts on the moon by 2040 and establish a lunar base by 2050.
