With eyes on Moon, Cabinet clears Chandrayaan-4 mission; samples to be brought back to Earth this time!

The Union Cabinet has approved the next lunar mission "Chandrayaan-4", which will develop and test technology for returning to Earth after safely landing on the lunar, as well as gather and analyse moon samples on Earth, according to a statement.

During the Amrit Kaal, the Indian government set a broad vision for the Indian space programme, including constructing an Indian Space Station (Bharatiya Antariksh Station) by 2035 and an Indian landing on the Moon by 2040. To realise this objective, a number of Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan follow-on missions are planned, including the development of accompanying space transportation and infrastructure capabilities.

ISRO will be responsible for the development of spacecraft and launch. The project will be effectively managed and monitored through the established practices prevailing at ISRO. The mission is expected to be completed within 36 months of approval with the participation of industry and academia.

This Chandrayaan-4 mission will eventually accomplish the core technological capabilities for an Indian lunar landing (scheduled for 2040) and a safe return to Earth. Major technologies necessary for docking/undocking, landing, and safe return to Earth, as well as lunar sample collecting and analysis, will be presented.

The total fund requirement for the technology demonstration mission "Chandrayaan-4" is Rs 2,104.06 crore, the statement said. 

The cost includes spacecraft development and realisation, two launch vehicle missions of LVM3, external deep space network support and conducting special tests for design validation, finally leading to the mission of landing on moon surface and safe return to Earth along with the collected lunar sample.

A look at Chandrayaan-3 

On August 23, India became the first country to safely land a craft in the moon's south pole region. This mission marked a historic milestone by achieving a safe and soft landing of the Vikram Lander and deploying the Pragyaan rover on the Moon’s south pole.

The Government of India has officially designated August 23 as "National Space Day" to celebrate the success of the Chandrayaan-3 Mission. Last month, India celebrated its first National Space Day.

Here are two of the ISRO's upcoming projects:

Aditya-L1
Aditya L1 (Aditya is a name for the sun in the Hindi language) is the first Indian space mission to study the sun. The spacecraft will be placed in an orbit around the Lagrange point 1 (L1) of the Sun-Earth system, about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) from Earth, where the gravitational effects of both bodies cancel each other out. 

Gaganyaan
India's first crewed space mission ("Gagan" means sky in Hindi, "yaan" is craft) plans to launch a crew of three to an orbit of 400 km (250 miles) for a three-day mission before landing in Indian waters.