Getting to the Moon

A clear strategy involving private participation and international collaboration is an absolute must for Isro in its lunar mission

On a balmy September day in 1962, a crowd of 40,000 at Houston’s Rice Stadium listened as then US President John F Kennedy declared: “We choose to go to the Moon…” Seven years later, the nation fulfilled his audacious pledge with Neil Armstrong’s historic “one small step for man”.

Fast forward 61 years, another global leader has set forth a similarly ambitious national project: Prime Minister Narendra Modi has tasked the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) with putting a human on the Moon by 2040, besides setting up an India-crafted space station by 2035.

Yet, the circumstances surrounding these two proclamations are markedly distinct. Kennedy’s speech was a Cold War countermove against the Soviet Union, which had sent Yuri Gagarin into Earth’s orbit just a year prior. He framed the moon landing as a democratic challenge that America was duty-bound to accept and conquer.

The target that Mr Modi has set, conversely, is a celebration of India’s space exploration triumphs — from a successful Mars orbiter mission in 2014 to the recent placement of a lander near the Moon’s south pole, and now coming a step closer to sending astronauts in space. 

Isro is on track to turn this lunar dream into reality, but such an endeavour is fraught with monumental challenges. The primary prerequisite is the development of more powerful launch vehicles. The current workhorse of Isro’s mega missions is Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3 or Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark-3), which can lift 4,000 kg payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit. A human-rated LVM3 shall be employed in the 2025 Gaganyaan mission to demonstrate human spaceflight capability by launching a three-member crew up 400 km for a three-day mission and returning them safely to Earth.

In contrast, Nasa’s Space Launch System (SLS) — designed for its Artemis lunar missions — boasts a payload capacity exceeding 20,000 kg to the translunar injection orbit. The Artemis programme aims to land “the first woman and the next man” on the Moon by 2025. The Saturn V rockets — used in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s — were engineered to send 41,000 kg to the Moon.

A year ago, Isro successfully tested India’s existing CE-20 cryogenic engine at a higher thrust level of 21,900 kg. This meant the CE-20 engine could generate more thrust and could lift much more payload mass to space.

Indian scientists may also glean insights from the undying and reliable Soviet-developed Soyuz series of spacecraft — which has been in service since the 1960s and completed more than 140 flights. For lunar human spaceflight to the Moon, Isro will also need to modify its mission design. For instance, Chandrayaan-3 was designed to orbit the Earth for some time before transferring to lunar orbit (the journey from the Earth to the Moon took 41 days). Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft, on the other hand, reached lunar orbit in just six days before crashing onto the Moon’s surface on Day 9 of the mission. The entire Apollo 11 mission spanned nine days (July 16-24, 1969), as it ferried Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins directly to the Moon and back.

The Indian space agency will also need advancements in human-rated systems. While it has already made significant strides with the development of the Gaganyaan, substantial research and development are needed in life support systems for long-duration space travel. This includes reliable systems for oxygen generation and carbon dioxide scrubbing, water purification, waste management, and food storage.

For spacesuits, Isro could learn from Russia’s Roscosmos, which has developed advanced spacesuit technology for its cosmonauts. Zvezda, a Russian R&D enterprise, is manufacturing spacesuits for the Gaganyaan mission.

Communication with spacecraft presents another formidable challenge. Isro may need to develop or gain access to a deep space communication network akin to Nasa’s Deep Space Network: A constellation of large radio antennas designed to communicate with spacecraft. This can be crucial for any human mission to the Moon and beyond.

In terms of astronaut training, Isro can benefit from studying Nasa’s rigorous training regimes, which prepare astronauts for the physical and psychological rigours of space travel. Currently, the four astronaut-elects for India’s maiden manned space mission are training in Russia.

The financial dimension is perhaps the most daunting obstacle. Whether it’s a lunar human mission or establishing a space station, such ventures would entail astronomical costs. An audit by Nasa’s Office of Inspector General pegged the true cost of the Artemis programme at $93 billion by 2025.

Financial constraints could potentially limit the project’s pace and the scope of experiments it can accommodate. Isro will need to forge international collaborations and explore involving the private sector to secure sufficient funding.

In this audacious mission, Isro will confront unfathomable challenges. However, with a clear strategy and a little assistance from international and private-sector collaborations, Indians could soon set foot on the lunar surface, turning a dream into celestial reality.