Daily Morning News

ISRO Plans to Launch Chandrayaan-4 in Two Parts and Assemble Modules in Space While in Orbit, Says Chief Somanath

During an event in New Delhi, ISRO Chief S Somanath announced that the upcoming Chandrayaan-4 mission will utilize an innovative approach. Instead of launching the spacecraft in a single piece, it will be launched in separate modules using multiple launches and then assembled in space. This mission aims to bring back samples from the Moon and will involve the most powerful rocket system ever used by India.

The unique challenge of this mission lies in the spacecraft's size, which exceeds the carrying capacity of ISRO's current rockets. As a result, the spacecraft will be assembled in space before embarking on its journey to the Moon. This approach, while new for lunar missions, has been previously used for building the International Space Station.

The configuration of Chandrayaan-4 necessitates multiple launches due to the current limitations of ISRO's rockets. In order to achieve this, ISRO is developing new docking capabilities that will allow the spacecraft parts to join together in both Earth and Moon orbits. This capability will be demonstrated later this year with a mission called Spadex.