ISRO’s ambitious lunar missions: LUPEX and Chandrayaan-4

November 17 (ANI): Following the successful soft-landing of the Chandrayaan-3 lander on the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is now working on two other lunar exploration missions.
Director, Space Applications Centre (SAC/ISRO), Ahmedabad, Nilesh Desai said the two ambitious lunar missions — LuPEx and Chandrayaan-4 aim at landing huge 350 kg landers on 90-degree (the darker side) of the moon with precise landing technology and sample return mission respectively.
Addressing a gathering on the 62nd foundation day celebration of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune on Friday, Desai said, “After the euphoria generated after Chandrayaan 3 mission now we are going to work on the joint Lunar Polar exploration Mission, this time (Chandrayaan-3) we went up to 70 degrees, in LuPEx mission we will go up to 90 degrees to observe the dark side of the moon and landing a huge rover there which weigh up to 350 kg, Chandrayaan-3 rover was 30 kg only therefore lander will also be huge in this mission.”
Speaking about the Chandrayaan 4 Mission, Desai said, “During a discussion about space programmes after Chandrayaan 3 success, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wanted us to take up the bigger challenges now.”
“There are challenges with the new mission…hopefully we will be able to do it in the next 5 to 10 years,” the scientist said.