NB Explains | India to shift focus on Chandrayaan-4: All you need to know about LUPEX

With the historic success of Chandrayaan-3, India has opened up new frontiers for global space exploration. After Chandrayaan-3, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) plans to collaborate with the Japanese space agency JAXA for a moon lander mission. The proposed Joint Lunar Polar Exploration (LUPEX) is aimed at exploring water resources in the lunar polar regions.

The announcement came after a recent meeting between ISRO chief S Somanath and Saku Tsuneka, Director General of the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and Vice-Chair of Japan’s Cabinet Committee on National Space Policy. LUPEX, which is slated to be launched in the next few years, will involve a Japanese rocket carrying an Indian lunar lander and a Japanese rover.

When will it launch?

This joint mission LUPEX, short for Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, is slated for a 2025 launch.

The primary objectives of the collaboration are to:

Its primary objective includes investigating the permanently shadowed craters on the Moon’s dark side to find and reconfirm the presence of ice/water deposits. Once confirmed, the LUPEX rover will check how much water there is and what it's like in terms of quality and quantity.

Recent years have seen hints of lunar water from observational data. The presence of water on the Moon could have profound implications for the future of space exploration and potentially serve as a valuable resource for sustaining human presence on our celestial neighbor.

☑️The mission is scheduled to launch in 2025.

☑️LUPEX will use a rover and lander to study the possibility of establishing a base on the Moon, the availability of water ice,and surface exploration technologies.

☑️JAXA and ISRO are developing the rover and lander, respectively.
— Current affairs🎯 || Gaurav Gupta (@gaurav_writes) August 24, 2023

The data gathered from this mission will allow engineers to know how much water will be needed to be brought from Earth for future crewed missions to the Moon. Water will be the most valuable resource for crewed missions to space as it can be converted to oxygen for breathing, hydrogen for rocket fuel, act as radiation shielding, and of course, for drinking.

The quantity aspect seeks to establish the actual quantity of water present in the anticipated areas based on existing observational data. By acquiring in-situ measurements and "ground truth data," Lupex will offer a critical baseline for calculating how much water must be transported from Earth for future lunar missions and how much can be sourced locally. This data could revolutionise the economics and sustainability of lunar exploration.

Simultaneously, the quality aspect aims to comprehend the distribution, conditions, and form of lunar water resources through in-situ observations in the polar regions of the Moon. Understanding these parameters is crucial for effectively harnessing lunar water for life support, propulsion, or as a shielding material.