Shortly before its untimely death, Chandrayaan-3's Vikram lander mustered every bit of firepower within its tired body and jumped about a foot off the Moon’s surface. Satisfied with its acrobatics, the device went into sleep, likely never to be awoken again.
Two months later, the Chandrayaan-3’s Propulsion Module returned to Earth’s orbit after an extended lunar vacation in the Moon’s orbit. While outside of the core mission objectives — which Chandrayaan-3 had already fulfilled — these extra-curricular activities helped set the stage for the next step of ISRO’s ambitious Moon mission: Chandrayaan-4.
Following on the successes of its predecessors, the Chandrayaan-4 will be a planned lunar sample-return mission, meaning not only will it have to make another soft landing on the Moon, but also bring a tantalising piece of the rock back to Earth with it. If successful, this would make India the fourth country in the world to have brought a sample of the Moon back to Earth, after the United States, Russia and China.
C-4 will be the first mission to use two different rockets — the Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LMV-3) for lifting the bulk of the payloads, and the ol’ reliable Polar Satellite Vehicle (PSLV). These rockets will be launched on separate days no earlier than 2028, as per a TOI report.
Both of these spacecraft will distribute five modules between them — almost double the modules compared to the Chandrayaan-3 space mission. The LVM-3 will carry the lunar Ascender, Descender and Propulsion Modules for safely ferrying ISRO’s scientific equipment to the Moon and hop back up into lunar orbit. Meanwhile, the PSLV will hold the Transfer and Reentry modules designed to collect and transfer lunar rock back to the Earth.
One of the final sections of the mission will see the Ascender Module attempt to dock with the Transfer Module mid-air, before the composite is sent back to Earth. In order to prepare for this daredevil endeavour and assess their space-docking capabilities, ISRO is planning the Space Docking Experiment (SPADEX) to attach two separately launched spacecraft in space in the latter half of this year.
While the Vikram lander's silence marked the end of an ambitious chapter, it will serve pridefully as a stepping stone for Chandrayaan-4, a mission designed to propel India into the elite league of lunar sample-retriever nations. This upcoming endeavour signifies a giant leap for ISRO's space exploration capabilities and promises to unlock a treasure trove of scientific knowledge.
