Category Archives: Lunar Sample Return

Friday / 21 February 2025

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India to the Moon: Update and Focus

ISRO charting innovative course for human Moon landing by 2040, perhaps near Shiv Shakti where Chandrayaan 3 landed; LVM3 rocket being modified into Human-Rated HR-LVM3 ‘Soorya’ with safety systems, tripled liftoff mass capability ~1.8 million kg; higher-capacity lunar lander being built with Earth Departing Stage (EDS); crewed Moon missions to require minimum 2 launches, then in-space docking / assembly; inaugural double launch NET 2025 for Gaganyaan crewed Earth orbit, then Chandrayaan-4 lunar sample return NET 2027 (updated from 2028); IAF GLEX Conference upcoming May 7-9 in New Delhi

Credits: ISRO, NASA/JPL/USGS

Friday / 7 February 2025

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NASA SPARX Team Plans South Pole Aitken-Basin Sample Return ~2034

NASA Science Definition Team (SDT) lead, Ryan Watkins, announces selection of the South Pole Aitken-Basin sample Return and eXploration (SPARX) team with Lauren Jozwiak as chair; SPARX team member James Keane and SDT member Denevi will overview mission and goals in March at 56th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference; report of the SPARX team is expected NET late 2026; SPARX mission expected to launch NET 2030 with regolith samples returning NET 2034; team includes 11 main Committee Members from universities, research institutions, NASA, 2 documentarians, representatives from JAXA, CSA-ASC, ESA, 4 NASA ex-officio members

Credits: NASA, USRA LPSC, (L-R) Lauren Jozwiak, James Keane selfie + drawings, Brett Denevi by NASA/Paul E. Alers, Ryan Watkins

Tuesday / 22 October 2024

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ISRO Aims to Confirm Lunar Water with Chandrayaan 4 / 5 Moon Landers

P Veeramuthuvel of ISRO reports Chandrayaan 4 to launch NET 2027-2028 for surface / sub-surface sample return, landing 85-90° S in region where permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) are hoped to harbor water ice, will need 2 launches / remote docking in orbit; Chandrayaan 5, ISRO-JAXA collaboration now called LUPEX flies NET 2028-2029, 6,000-kg lander taking rover precisely to 89.45° S / 222.85° E on ridge between Shackleton / de Gerlache craters near PSRs, similar to China Chang’E-7 / abandoned VIPER missions, surviving lunar night is core goal, likely to use same Americium-352 radioisotope heater units (RHUs) as Chandrayaan 3

Credits: Arizona State University, ISRO, JAXA, IAF

Friday / 4 October 2024

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S Somanath of ISRO Continues Visionary Leadership for India Moon / Space Exploration

Dr. Sreedhara Panicker Somanath, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) since January 2022, has clear vision of India in the forefront of exploration beginning with Moon, oversaw Chandrayaan-3 Statio Shiv Shakti landing near 70° South; focuses on Space Vision-2047 missions including Gaganyaan, Chandrayaan-series, others, Bharatiya Antariksha Station development, humans to Moon by 2040; plans Chandrayaan-4 sample return mission of 2-5 kg from lunar South pole to enhance understanding of Earth-Moon System origin; posits that ISRO aims for the stars but “will not forget the farmer or fisherman while exploring the Solar System,” emphasizes space technology must improve life on Earth

Credits: (S Somanath; ISRO: L – LVM3 launch vehicle for Chandrayaan-3, R – Chandrayaan-4 model)

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 3-6 May 2024

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First Lunar Far Side Sample Return Mission on Route to South Pole-Aitken Basin

China space agency CNSA guiding Chang’E-6 53-day mission, consisting of 4-module stack launched from Wenchang SLC (19 N°) on LM-5 rocket 3 May and Queqiao-2 relay satellite, also launched from Wenchang on LM-8 and currently in 200 x 16,000-km lunar orbit; Lander, ascender orbiter and return capsule to reach Moon orbit by 8 May, where they will remain for ~20 days before lander and ascender separate and descend to 490-km Apollo crater (itself within 2,400-km Aitken Basin) spending 48 hours drilling to a depth of 2-m and retrieving up to 2-kg of regolith for Earth (Inner Mongolia) return 25 June

 
Credits: CNSA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 8-11 March 2024

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ISRO Developing Chandrayaan-4 Moon Mission Design for NET 2027 launch

Tentative Chandrayaan-4 concept features 5 modules: re-entry (RM), transfer (TM), ascender (AM), descender (DM), and propulsion (PM), with objectives including soft landing, regolith sample collection, lunar ascent, lunar orbit docking, inter-module sample transfer and Earth return; Mission will utilize 2 launch vehicles, LVM3 and PSLV; “Extremely challenging” design architecture shared by ISRO Chairman S Somanath at 22nd National Space Science Symposium (hosted by Goa University) under review, being debated and discussed; LUPEX joint mission with JAXA to study PSR also pending approval with landing on Shackleton Connecting Ridge 1 (89.44°S, 137.17°W) possible

Credits: ISRO, NSSS / YouTube

Friday / 12 Jan 2024

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China Lunar Sample Return Mission Chang’E-6 Prepares for NET May Launch to Moon Far Side

CNSA Chang’E-6 Moon spacecraft (orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry module – totaling 8,200-kg launch mass) now at Wenchang, Hainan undergoing pre-launch tests ahead of 53-day mission to collect 2 kg of lunar regolith from Apollo crater within South Pole-Aitken Basin (~43°S, 154°W), expected to launch in May; International payloads include Detection of Outgassing Radon (DORN, France), INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations (INRRI, Italy), Negative Ions on Lunar Surface (NILS, Sweden) and iCUBE-Q 3U Cube Sat (Pakistan); Chang’E-6 is the world’s first attempt at lunar far side sample retrieval

Credits: CNSA

Weekend Edition
Fri-Mon / 22-25 Sep 2023

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India and World Eagerly Await Chandrayaan-3 Reactivation, ISRO Leader Aiming at Human Moon Landing

Controllers at ISRO Telemetry, Tracking and Command center in Bengaluru working to reestablish communication with Vikram Lander (with ~ 90-kg fuel remaining) and Pragyan Rover at now-illuminated Shiv Shakti Point (69.373°S, 32.319°E) on Moon following failed attempts; ISRO Chairman Sreedhara Somanath tells local media mission has given India ‘great confidence’ to pursue even more ambitious goals such as lunar sample return and merging Gaganyaan human spaceflight program with Chandrayaan lunar series, stating ‘an Indian will definitely land on the Moon’; Director of Space Applications Center Nilesh Desai anticipates 23 Sep awakening

Credits: ISRO, ISRS

Friday / 4 Aug 2023

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China Now Accepting International Requests for Chang’E-5 Lunar Samples

International governments, space agencies and organizations are invited to borrow portions of the 1,731 g of Moon regolith collected by CE-5 lander within Oceanus Procellarum (43.1°N, 51.8°W) and returned to Earth 17 Dec 2020; 1-year loans will be granted for both scientific research use and for public outreach / education, with application review occurring every 6 months managed by CNSA Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center (LESEC); CE-6 launching NET May 2024 to return first far side samples from South Pole–Aitken basin area between 150–158° W, 41–45° S

Tuesday / 13 Sep 2022

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Chang’E Program Moving Forward, Water / Helium-3 Content Confirmed in Returned Samples, Agriculture on TSS

CNSA has state approval for phase 4 of Chang’E lunar program, consisting of CE-6 farside sample return (NET 2024), CE-7 MSP exploration with rover / hopper (NET 2024), and CE-8 ISRU study (NET 2027) after CE-5 1.731-kg lunar samples show ~170 ppm OH/H2O, per CAS Institute of Geochemistry infrared / ion mass spectroscopy analysis; Additional study by Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology discovers 10 μm crystal of new mineral Changesite–(Y) and reportedly determines concentration and outlines extraction of 3He; China students participating remotely in thale cress / rice study on Tiangong Space Station under “Growing Plants Together with Astronauts” program

Credits: China National Space Agency, Chinese Academy of Sciences