Cabinet Approves Chandrayaan-4 and First Module of Bharatiya Antariksh Station by 2028

To expand the Chandrayaan series, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned the fourth mission to the moon and also gave a go-ahead for the construction of the first unit of the Bharatiya Antariksh Station or the Indian Space Station by 2028. The Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved Chandrayaan-4 in order to develop and demonstrate technologies that would help astronauts return to Earth after successfully landing on the moon. In addition, its core mission also involves returning samples of Moon safely for investigation on Earth.

Chandrayaan-4 mission will attain the fundamental technologies capabilities eventually for an Indian landing on the Moon (planned by year 2040) and return safely back to Earth," said a Cabinet Communique. "Major technologies that are required for docking/undocking, landing, safe return to Earth and also accomplish lunar sample collection and analysis would be demonstrated," it added.

Chandrayaan-3 demonstrated the safe and soft landing of Lander on the tricky lunar surface, thereby forming a key technology possessed by very few other nations and an important capability established by India. The next challenge is to collect and return the samples from the lunar body back to Earth in safety.

The Chandrayaan-4 mission is "planned for Rs 2,104.06 crore", and the development of the spacecraft and its launch will be handled by ISRO. The Cabinet said the "cost includes spacecraft development and realization, two launch vehicle missions of LVM3, external deep space network support and conducting special tests for design validation, finally leading to the mission of landing on the Moon's surface and safe return to Earth along with the collected lunar sample."

The mission is expected to be "completed within 36 months of approval", the Cabinet said. In the meantime, while broadening the vision for the Indian space programme, the government had contemplated an Indian Space Station by 2035 and an Indian landing on the lunar surface by 2040. Towards this goal, the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the development of the first module of BAS-1.

The Cabinet has further revamped the Gaganyaan Programme by factoring in the scope of development and precursor missions for BAS, besides netting an additional uncrewed mission. "With a net additional funding of Rs 11,170 crore in the already approved programme, the total funding for Gaganyaan Programme with the revised scope has been enhanced to Rs 20,193 crore," said the Cabinet.

It said it aims to "develop and demonstrate critical technologies for long-duration human space missions." Eight missions are envisaged under this program-including development and demonstration of critical technologies under the ongoing Gaganyaan Program by 2026, development of BAS-1, and another four missions for demonstration and validation of various technologies by December 2028.