The Chandrayaan programme (), also known as the Indian Lunar Exploration Programme is an ongoing series of outer space missions by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). The programme incorporates lunar orbiter, impactor, soft lander and rover spacecraft. The name of the programme is from

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

' ().

Programme structure

The Chandrayaan (Indian Lunar Exploration Programme) programme is a multiple mission programme. , one orbiter with an impactor probe has been sent to the Moon, using ISRO's workhorse

PSLV The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

rocket. The second spacecraft consisting of orbiter, soft lander and rover was launched on 22 July 2019, by using a

GSLV Mk III The Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM 3), previously referred to as the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV Mk3), is a three-stage medium-lift launch vehicle developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Primarily de ...

rocket. In a podcast from AT, VSSC director S. Somanath stated that there will be a

Chandrayaan-3 Chandrayaan-3 (, ; ) is a planned third lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Following Chandrayaan-2, where a last-minute glitch in the soft landing guidance software led to the failure of the lander's s ...

and more follow up missions in Chandrayaan Program. The Chandrayaan-3 mission is expected to launch in 2023.

Phase I: Orbiter and Impactor

Chandrayaan-1 Chandrayaan-1 (, ) was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan program. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included a lunar orbiter and an impact ...

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee announced the Chandrayaan project on course in his Independence Day speech on 15 August 2003. The mission was a major boost to India's space program. The idea of an Indian scientific mission to the Moon was first mooted in 1999 during a meeting of the Indian Academy of Sciences. The Astronautical Society of India carried forward the idea in 2000. Soon after, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) set up the National Lunar Mission Task Force which concluded that ISRO has the technical expertise to carry out an Indian mission to the Moon. In April 2003 over 100 eminent Indian scientists in the fields of planetary and space sciences, Earth sciences, physics, chemistry, astronomy, astrophysics and engineering and communication sciences discussed and approved the Task Force recommendation to launch an Indian probe to the Moon. Six months later, in November, the Indian government gave the nod for the mission. The first phase includes the launch of the first lunar orbiters. *

, launched on 22 October 2008 aboard a

PSLV-XL The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is an expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed and operated by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was developed to allow India to launch its Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites ...

rocket, was a big success for ISRO as the

Moon Impact Probe The Moon Impact Probe (MIP) developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), India's national space agency, was a lunar probe that was released by ISRO's Chandrayaan-1 lunar remote sensing orbiter which in turn was launched, on 22 O ...

, a payload on board the Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft, discovered water on the Moon. Apart from discovering water the Chandrayaan-1 mission performed several other tasks such as mapping and atmospheric profiling of the Moon.

Phase II: Soft landers and rovers

Chandrayaan-2 lander and orbiter integrated module

;

Chandrayaan-2 Chandrayaan-2 (, ; ) is the second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), after Chandrayaan-1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the ''Vikram'' lander, and the ''Pragyan'' lunar ...

On 18 September 2008, the

First Manmohan Singh Cabinet The First Ministry of Manmohan Singh was the first Union Council of Ministers of India under the Prime Ministership of Dr. Manmohan Singh. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election held in four phases during 20 April - 10 May 2004, to ...

approved the mission. Although ISRO finalised the payload for Chandrayaan-2 per schedule, the mission was postponed in January 2013 and rescheduled to 2016 because Russia was unable to develop the lander on time. Roscosmos later withdrew in wake of the failure of the

Fobos-Grunt Fobos-Grunt or Phobos-Grunt (russian: link=no, Фобос-Грунт, where ''грунт'' refers to the ''ground'' in the narrow geological meaning of any type of soil or rock exposed on the surface) was an attempted Russian sample return mis ...

mission to Mars, since the technical aspects connected with the Fobos-Grunt mission were also used in the lunar projects, which needed to be reviewed. When Russia cited its inability to provide the lander even by 2015, India decided to develop the lunar mission independently and unused orbiter hardware was repurposed to be used for

Mars Orbiter Mission The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM), also called ''Mangalyaan'', was a space probe orbiting Mars since 24 September 2014. It was launched on 5 November 2013 by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). It was India's first interplanetary missi ...

. Chandrayaan-2 was launched on 22 July 2019ISRO set for April launch of Chandrayaan-2 after missed deadline
Vikram Gopal, ''Hindustan Times''. 11 January 2019. aboard a

rocket. The spacecraft was successfully put into lunar orbit on August 20, 2019 but the lander was lost while attempting to land on 6 September 2019. The orbiter is operational, collecting scientific data, and is expected to function for 7.5 years. ;

In November 2019, ISRO officials stated that a new lunar lander mission was being studied for launch in November 2020. This new proposal is called

and it would be a re-attempt to demonstrate the landing capabilities needed for the

Lunar Polar Exploration Mission The Lunar Polar Exploration mission (LUPEX), also known as Chandrayaan-4, is a robotic lunar mission concept by Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) that would send a lunar rover and lander t ...

proposed in partnership with Japan for 2024. This spacecraft configuration would not include launching an orbiter and would have a lander, rover, and a propulsion module, behaving like a communications relay satellite, with mission costing 250 crore with additional launch costs of 365 crore for

. This third mission would land in the same area as the second one. As of April 2022, Chandrayaan-3 is expected to launch in 2023.

Phase III: On site sampling

;

The next mission will be the

or Chandryaan-4, suggested to be launched in 2025. India is collaborating with Japan in this mission but the mission is not yet defined. It will be a lander-rover mission near lunar pole to perform on site sampling and analysis of collected lunar materialhttps://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/science/india-japan-working-on-lunar-sample-return-mission/article20533828.ece "The Hindu". 17 November 2017. and demonstrate lunar night survival technologies. ;Chandryaan-5 The mission has been suggested for time frame of 2025-30. It will include a lander based rotary-percussive drilling in

lunar soil Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith found on the surface of the Moon. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil. The physical properties of lunar soil are primarily the result of mechanical disinteg ...

upto a depth of 1~1.5 meters and analysis of cut using instruments. A volcanically and tectonically active area on

near side of the moon The near side of the Moon is the lunar hemisphere that always faces towards Earth, opposite to the far side. Only one side of the Moon is visible from Earth because the Moon rotates on its axis at the same rate that the Moon orbits the Earth—a ...

will be selected for experiment.

Phase IV: Sample-return missions

;Chandryaan-6 The mission has been suggested for time frame of 2030-35. It will include drilling of lunar soil followed and return samples to earth.

References