Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Identifies Landing Site for Chandrayaan-4 Mission

Key facts

• The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has identified a landing site near Mons Mouton in the Moon’s south polar region for the Chandrayaan-4 mission.
• Researchers at the Space Applications Centre (SAC) selected the specific site labelled MM-4, located at 84.289 degrees south latitude and 32.808 degrees east longitude.
• The MM-4 site was chosen for its manageable average slope of approximately 5 degrees, minimal large rocks, and continuous sunlight exposure for 11 to 12 days.
• Chandrayaan-4 is India’s first lunar sample return mission and is currently scheduled for launch around 2028.
• The mission architecture includes five distinct components: a propulsion module, descender, ascender, transfer module, and re-entry module.
• The landing site discovery was made by analysing high-resolution images from the Chandrayaan-2 orbiter and using digital elevation models.
• The mission aims to collect lunar soil and rock samples using robotic systems and return them to Earth via the ascender module.