'Not far from sending astronauts to moon': Scientists after Chandrayaan 4

Responding to the Union cabinet's nod to India's fourth lunar mission, the Indian scientific community said that the country is not far from sending a 'cosmonaut' to the moon.

Speaking to ANI, the former director of the Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad Center, Tapan Misra, said, "We should be able to land a lander there and collect stones and lunar soil and bring it back to the orbiter, and with this orbiter, we should come back and land safely and retribute. This is the very first step towards sending an Indian cosmonaut to the Moon. We will not be far from sending a cosmonaut to the moon."

He further said, "The Govt of India has approved 3 programmes and one of them is Chandrayaan 4. We are happy that Chandrayaan 3 landed there...we demonstrated 2 critical technologies, we can send something to the moon and bring it back, and we can fire a rocket after landing and waiting for 14 days, it's a major development."

Describing the Chandrayaan 4 mission, RC Kapoor, Astronomer & Professor, said that the Chandrayaan 4 is a lunar sample return mission and will be completed using 2 rockets.

"Chandrayaan 4 is a lunar sample return mission, this mission will be completed using 2 rockets. Its launching will be in 2027...first rocket will be like GSLV MkIII, that will take ascender module and descender module the second rocket will go later," Professor RC Kapoor told ANI.

He further said that there is a robotic arm in the descender module that will collect lunar samples, and then the samples will be transferred to the ascender module.

Earlier on Wednesday, September 18, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S Somanath said that they are planning to launch the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station (BAS-1) by 2028.

Addressing reporters in the national capital, S Somnath said, "Chandrayaaan 4 mission is primarily targeted to demonstrate the technology to go to the moon and then come back. The coming back is a highlight of it, landing there has already been demonstrated by Chandrayaan-3. If you have to send a man to space later in 2040, a vision by our PM, we need to have confidence in technology."

He added, "For the Indian Space Station, yes, there is a timeline for that--the goal given by the Prime Minister is 2035. Our plan here is to launch the first module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station called BAS-1 by 2028."

The ISRO chairman further said that they have broadened the scope of the Gaganyaan Mission.