Indian Defense Forum 
- Jan 26, 2024
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‘Strength Respects Strength’: ISRO Chief Explains Why Japan Approached India For Chandrayaan-5
Story by Harish Upadhya• 1h•
3 min read
ISRO chief V Narayanan also gave updates on Gaganyaan. (PTI File)© Copyright (C) new18.com. All Rights Reserved.
India’s space ambitions have soared to new heights with the recent approval of the Chandrayaan-5 mission, a collaborative lunar exploration mission between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). This marks growing international recognition of India’s space capabilities, particularly following the successful Chandrayaan-3.
Speaking exclusively to CNN-News18, ISRO chairman V Narayanan explained how the Japanese approached India for the mission and what’s in store.
“It is a joint mission. As you know, strength respects strength,” said ISRO Chairman V Narayanan. “When we successfully accomplished the Chandrayaan-3 mission and India became the only country that soft-landed near the south pole of the moon and the fourth country to soft-land on the moon, the JAXA team said they would like to have a collaboration. So, we are collaborating and accomplishing that mission. In fact, it is going to be launched by the Japanese rocket and the launch vehicle.”
WHAT IS CHANDRAYAAN-5?
The Chandrayaan-5 mission will feature a significantly larger rover, weighing approximately 350 kg, compared to the 25 kg rover deployed during Chandrayaan-3.“One comparison I can give is Chandrayaan-3, we had a rover, something around 25 kg… Here, the rover is going to be 350 kg,” Narayanan explained. “Our mission was only a 14-day mission, but here it is going to be a long-term mission.”
The mission will focus on the lunar polar region, aiming to further explore water availability and conduct a wide range of scientific investigations.
“Because of Chandrayaan-3, we had 14 days only, but we could collect the statistics. We had a lot of discoveries through our colleagues. We have discovered electron clouds, we have found seismic activity in some locations. We have discovered the thermal profile, mapped it, and like that, a lot of scientific discoveries were there. Here, it is going to be again a polar region mission to understand the water availability, and so many things, so many aspects are involved,” Narayanan said. He also mentioned that the scientific payloads are still being finalised.
GAGANYAAN MISSION PROGRESS UPDATE
In addition to the Chandrayaan-5 announcement, Narayanan provided an update on the progress of India’s human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan. “As you are aware, to accomplish the Gaganyaan mission, a lot of things have to be done,” he said.He highlighted key milestones, including the completion of the human rating of the launch vehicle system and the near-finalisation of the integrated vehicle health monitoring system. “Then, of course, we need to develop the environmental control and safety system, which maintains the required pressure, temperature, relative humidity, carbon dioxide, the partial pressure level of oxygen, and everything it has to maintain, and those developments are in the advanced stage,” Narayanan said.
The Crew Escape System, designed to safeguard the astronauts in case of emergencies, has also undergone successful testing. “We went through a couple of tests, and recently, a year ago, we did one exclusive experiment by utilising a developed test vehicle exclusively for that purpose. It was a grand success and a satisfying thing,” Narayanan said. “Our Navy ship, picked up the module from the right spot. We were there to receive it and we were very happy.”
ISRO plans to conduct further tests and three uncrewed missions before the actual manned mission.
“The first uncrewed mission is getting ready. Once it is successful, we will go through the second and third missions, followed by the actual mission,” Narayanan said, adding that the ‘Gagan Yatris’ are currently undergoing rigorous training.
