Illustration of a crewed ISRO lander approaching the lunar surface

The Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan programs are expected to pave the way for a crewed lunar landing

New Delhi: Last week, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi formally approved the Chandrayaan 4 sample return mission to the Moon, expanded the Gaganyaan programme to include the deployment of at least the first stage of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station, and greenlit the development of the Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), a partially reusable, environmentally friendly heavy lift rocket dubbed Soorya.

In a media briefing, Minister for Railways, Information and Broadcasting, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnav said, “Chandrayaan 3 was a very big success, and basis that, now, the next step is to get the manned mission to Moon. All the preparatory steps necessary for that have been given the approval today.” Last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had directed ISRO to land an Indian on the Moon by 2040, using primarily domestic hardware.

ISRO Needs To Develop A Crewed Moon Lander

There are currently no spaceships in the world that can land a human on the Moon. For its ambitious return to the Moon, NASA plans to use the SpaceX Starship to provide access to the lunar surface, for the Artemis III mission which is still scheduled for 2026, despite delays in the development of the Artemis hardware. China is developing the Mengzhou or Dream Vessel in an accelerated timeline, on the back of a series of technically sophisticated lunar missions. Blue Origin, owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has bagged a NASA contract to develop its Blue Moon lander, with the first flight planned for 2029.

ISRO does not have any equivalent vehicle in development. There are expected to be at least three more uncrewed ISRO missions to the lunar surface, if not more, before the first crewed landing attempt is made. These Chandrayaan series of missions are expected to increase confidence in the reliability of ISRO hardware. ISRO is developing a novel lander for the Chandrayaan 4 mission, and another lander for the LUPEX mission, a collaboration between Japan and India. For future crewed missions to the lunar surface, ISRO will have to develop a brand new lander.

Agencies