You'll remember India's successful lunar lander Chandrayaan-3 from last summer through the fall. With that mission, India became the fourth nation in world history to soft land a probe on the moon and the first to land as close to the south pole as they did, essentially 70 degrees south latitude. At last week's International Astronautical Congress (IAC) convention in Milan, the ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) announced India’s plans for the Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return mission. This mission will target a landing between 85 and 90 degrees south latitude. They also talked about a follow-up joint lander and rover mission with Japan.
The Chandrayaan-4 mission will consist of two stacks launched on two separate rockets and will target the vicinity of the lunar south pole, according to P. Veeramuthuvel of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), speaking at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Milan, Oct. 17.
The mission will aim to collect around three kilograms of samples from near the south pole, around which water-ice is thought to be available. ISRO will require several new technologies, including the ability to scoop from the surface and drill to a depth of around two meters to sample the subsurface.
They haven't completely finalized the landing location, but it's an ambitious mission that will include lunar landing, sampling, docking in lunar orbit and returning to Earth safely with the samples. All of these are technologies and techniques that will be useful for India in their plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2040.
The separate Chandrayaan-4 stacks will each have a mass of around 4.6 tons, making a total mass of 9.2 tons, each launching on an LVM-3 launch vehicle. The modules will dock in geosynchronous transfer orbit—using a circuitous route to the moon, as with Chandrayaan-3—and travel to the moon as one. An earlier mission design envisioned using one LVM-3 and PSLV launcher for the two launches.
As the infomercials on TV used to say, "but wait! There's more!"
JAXA also released some information on the Chandrayaan-5 mission, also called LUPEX, which is a joint mission between ISRO and The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
The landing mission will also target the lunar south pole, with coordinates of 89.45°S, 222.85°E, on an elevated ridge near Shackleton crater. There are permanently shadowed regions within the vicinity, potentially for the mission rover to explore. The rover will drive between 500 and 1,000 meters, taking in-situ measurements, including determining potential water-ice deposits.
India will provide the lander, mission planning and payloads, while Japan will contribute the launch vehicle, various payloads and the rover. Payloads will include ground penetrating radar, a range of spectrometers and water analysis instruments contributed by both sides.
Spacecraft renders for the Chandrayaan-4 and Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX moon missions. Credit: P. Veeramuthuvel/ISRO
It's interesting to see the determined efforts from ISRO. In addition to the Chandrayaan-4 mission, a Venus orbiter, their first crewed space station module, and a reusable launch vehicle also received approval last month.
Common docking ring on the ISRO station module, I hope?
ReplyDeleteSure hope so. Is anyone not using a common docking ring these days?
DeleteChina.
DeleteI've been pleasantly surprised by the Indian achievements in space, given my experience working with a large group of Indian H1-B "engineers" several years ago. Granted, these people were working for a medical company, and were mostly upper class Brahman women, who spent more time gossiping than working. I have several funny stories about my time acting as their babysitter/problem solver...8 months that seemed to last a decade.
ReplyDeleteScuttling around a few dark web sites, it appears that at least in some areas, Indian technical documentation is better than Russian. Of course, when a lot of Russian engineers and designers are being sent as cannon fodder to the Kursk sector...
Japanese engineering documentation has always been good, with the minor quirk that what we would put on an "E" size drawing format(34" x 44") they invariably put on "A" size(8-12 x 11").
Japanese engineering documentation has always been good, with the minor quirk that what we would put on an "E" size drawing format(34" x 44") they invariably put on "A" size(8-12 x 11").
DeleteOoo! An eye test.
I've worked with Indian engineers on the hardware side in avionics. It was a mix of the good and not so good. Hardly memorable.
At the time, we were contracting with a software company or two and a friend got sent there to help "unscrew" a few things. What she commented the most strongly on was how as soon as the plane into New Delhi got on the ground it started to stink and stayed that way until she left. I had the impression that she had one of those "can't get clean enough" moments when she got home and washed both her clothes and herself three or four times.
The other problem was that the client believed in packing people into small rooms. I was the only Anglo in a room with about 50 Indians; poor ventilation(at least it was winter), and most of them had only recently come over to the states, so they had all sorts of bugs. I got a severe case of bronchitis very soon after starting, and eventually had to go to an ER for treatment.
DeleteGiven my having had pneumonia twice, and poor lungs from birth, things got interesting. I recovered, but the doctor told me that the plant was a disease factory.
Agreed with the food; the Indians were all vegan, and didn't like my normal meals of jumbo burritos, large sticks of pepperoni, and the occasional Whopper with cheese from Burger King. Fortunately, I have no sense of smell remaining after my stint in the USAF some 40 years ago, so I didn't have a problem in that regard.
They really freaked out over my watching Warhammer and Warhammer 40K videos on my breaks, while they were addicted to Indian rap and sleazy Bollywood videos. Fun contract, but I was glad to move on.
From what I've seen about Japanese diagrams, they do a lot more 'exploded views' of smaller parts than the equivalent American, because of the size of the page. One page will show the whole component/assembly, following will break the component/assembly down to specific sections or parts.
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