New dates for Chandrayaan-4, Gaganyaan announced, ISRO’s mission with Japan named ‘Chandrayaan-5’

New Delhi: ISRO Chairman S. Somanath has disclosed new timelines for India’s key space missions, including Gaganyaan and Chandrayaan-4.

During the Sardar Patel Memorial Lecture at Akashvani (All India Radio), Somanath outlined the updated schedules for several major forthcoming missions: Gaganyaan is anticipated for 2026, Chandrayaan-4 for 2028, and the eagerly awaited joint NISAR mission with the US is likely to launch next year.

Somanath also announced that the joint lunar mission with Japan’s space agency, JAXA, previously known as LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration), has been renamed to the Chandrayaan-5 mission. Although a specific launch date was not provided, this mission, initially slated for a 2025 launch, is now expected to occur after 2028, subsequent to the planned Chandrayaan-4 mission.

Discussing Chandrayaan-5, Somanath mentioned that it would be a substantial mission, with India contributing the lander and Japan supplying the rover. He compared the upcoming mission’s rover, weighing 350 kg, to Chandrayaan-3’s 27 kg rover, emphasizing that Chandrayaan-5 is a science-intensive mission that will bring us closer to human lunar landings.

Somanath highlighted the critical need to further indigenize space technologies, stating India’s goal to increase its global space economy share from the current 2% to at least 10% within the next decade.