The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is planning a mission to collect soil or rock samples from the Moon and bring these to Earth.
The proposed Lunar Sample Return Mission (LSRM) will hopefully be accomplished in the next five to seven years, said Nilesh Desai, Director, Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO in a statement.
Under the project, which has an expected launch date in 2028, soil or rock samples will be collected from the Shiv Shakti point on the lunar surface. Two separate launch vehicles will be used to carry out the mission, as the exercise involves four modules: Transfer, Lander, Ascender, and Re-entry.
ISRO will use the Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) Mark-II for the Transfer and Re-entry modules, while GSLV Mark-III be used for the Ascender and Lander modules.
The project, like Chandrayaan 3, is planned for one lunar day (14 days on Earth).
The LSRM follows the same lines as NASA’s collection of the first-ever samples from Bennu, the near-Earth asteroid. The US space agency achieved the feat in September with its OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which returned to Earth’s atmosphere after completing a seven-year journey.
