ISRO IDENTIFIES SITE FOR CHANDRAYAAN 4 LANDER from Vajirao & Reddy Institute

ISRO IDENTIFIES SITE FOR CHANDRAYAAN 4 LANDER

What is the News?

• ISRO has identified a landing site for the upcoming Chandrayaan-4 Mission.
• The mission is expected to launch around 2028.
• It will be India’s first lunar sample-return mission.
• The Union Government has approved the mission.
• It is considered India’s most complex lunar mission so far.

BACKGROUND: SUCCESS OF CHANDRAYAAN 3 Before Chandrayaan-4, India achieved major success with Chandrayaan-3.

• Chandrayaan-3 was launched on 14 July 2023 from Sriharikota.
• It was launched using LVM3 (Launch Vehicle Mark-III).
• The mission aimed to demonstrate:
  • Safe soft landing
  • Rover movement (roving) on the Moon
  • Conducting scientific experiments
• On 23 August 2023, the Vikram Lander and Pragyan Rover successfully soft-landed near the Lunar South Pole.

WHY WAS THIS HISTORIC?

• India became the first country to soft-land near the Lunar South Pole.
• India became the fourth country to achieve soft landing on the Moon (after USA, Russia, and China).
• It strengthened India’s position in the global space exploration elite club.

ABOUT LVM3 ROCKET

• LVM3 is ISRO’s heavy-lift launch vehicle.
• It is capable of placing payloads into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO).
• It is a three-stage rocket:
  • Two solid strap boosters
  • One liquid core stage
• For Chandrayaan-3, LVM3 placed the spacecraft into an Elliptic Parking Orbit (170 × 36,500 km).

WHAT IS CHANDRAYAAN 4?

• Chandrayaan-4 is a lunar sample-return mission.
• Its main goal is to:
  • Land on the Moon
  • Collect lunar soil/rock samples
  • Bring them safely back to Earth
• This is more complex than Chandrayaan-3 because:
  • It requires landing + collecting samples + lift-off from Moon + return to Earth.

WHERE WILL CHANDRAYAAN 4 LAND?

• ISRO has selected a site in the South Polar region of the Moon.
• The specific area is called Mons Mouton (MM).
• 4 possible landing sites were studied:
  • MM-1
  • MM-3
  • MM-4
  • MM-5
• After analysis, MM-4 was selected.

WHY WAS MM4 SELECTED?

• ISRO used data from the Orbiter High Resolution Camera (OHRC).
• Key features of MM-4:
  • A 1 km × 1 km area with the least hazards
  • Mean slope of about 5 degrees (relatively flat surface)
  • Mean height of 5,334 metres
  • Maximum number of hazard-free grids (24 m × 24 m size)
• These conditions make it suitable for safe soft landing.

MODULES OF CHANDRAYAAN 4 Chandrayaan-4 consists of:

• Propulsion Module (PM)
• Descender Module (DM)
• Ascender Module (AM)
• Transfer Module (TM)
• Re-entry Module (RM)

LANDING PROCESS

• The Descender Module (DM) and Ascender Module (AM) will land together.
• This is called the AM + DM stack.
• The landing will use advanced navigation, guidance and control systems.

After sample collection:

• The Ascender Module will lift off from the Moon.
• The samples will return to Earth using the Re-entry Module.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CHANDRAYAAN 3 & 4 Chandrayaan-3

• Focused on safe landing and rover movement
• No sample return
• Proved India’s soft-landing capability

Chandrayaan-4

• Will perform sample return
• Involves landing + lift-off + Earth re-entry
• Technically much more complex

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