Chandrayaan 4: ‘Not far from sending astronaut...,’ say Indian scientists after moon mission gets cabinet nod

Following the Union cabinet's nod for India's fourth lunar mission, Chandrayaan 4, the scientific community expressed hope that the country would soon be able to see its lander on the moon collect stones and lunar soil and bring it back to the orbiter.

Optimistic about the Indian Space Research Organisation's (ISRO) endeavours, a scientist said we are not far from sending an astronaut to the moon. This mission's success would pave the way for future human space exploration.

Former director of the Space Applications Centre in Ahmedabad, Tapan Misra, said, “We should be able to land a lander there and collect stones and lunar soil and bring it back to the orbiter, and with this orbiter, we should come back and land safely and retribute,” reported ANI.

He noted that this space mission marks the “first step towards sending an Indian astronaut to the Moon.” Expressing confidence in ISRO's upcoming mission he said, "We will not be far from sending an astronaut to the moon."

Bringing into focus the upcoming three programmes approved by the Government of India, including Chandrayaan 4, Tapan Misra said, "We are happy that Chandrayaan 3 landed there...we demonstrated 2 critical technologies, we can send something to the moon and bring it back, and we can fire a rocket after landing and waiting for 14 days, it's a major development," reported ANI.

Astronomer and Professor RC Kapoor explained that the Chandrayaan 4 mission will be completed using 2 rockets, which is a lunar sample return mission. Detailing the mission, Kapoor said the mission moon will be launched in 2027. “First rocket will be like GSLV MkIII, that will take ascender module and descender module the second rocket will go later,” ANI quoted RC Kapoor as saying.

Describing the mission, Kapoor informed that lunar samples will be collected using a robotic arm in the descender module, which will be subsequently transferred to the ascender module.

The remarks come after the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved a new moon mission on September 18. ISRO chairman S Somanath on Wednesday announced plans to launch the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) by 2028. During his address in the national capital, he said Chandrayaaan 4 mission is primarily targeted to demonstrate the technology to go to the moon and then come back.

(With inputs from ANI)