Bengaluru: India’s next major lunar expedition, Chandrayaan-4, is still at least two years away, but the Indian Space Research Organisation has already locked in a prospective landing zone in the Moon’s South Polar region after an extensive technical evaluation.
The Union government has cleared Chandrayaan-4 as a lunar sample-return mission, a design that ISRO officials describe as India’s most complex lunar undertaking to date. ISRO chairman V Narayanan has indicated a tentative timeline for the mission, saying earlier, “We are targeting 2028 for Chandrayaan-4.”
As part of the preparatory work, ISRO scientists examined the Mons Mouton area, a geologically significant region near the lunar south pole. Four potential landing locations, designated MM-1, MM-3, MM-4 and MM-5, were shortlisted and studied in detail. After comparative analysis, MM-4 was selected as the preferred site.
According to ISRO officials, the four Mons Mouton sites were “fully characterised with respect to terrain characteristics” using high-resolution multi-view datasets from the Orbiter High Resolution Camera. The agency found that a one kilometre by one kilometre area surrounding MM-4 offered the most favourable conditions. This zone recorded the lowest hazard percentage among the candidates, a mean slope of 5 degrees, an average elevation of 5,334 metres, and the highest number of hazard-free grids, each measuring 24 metres by 24 metres. Officials said these factors made MM-4 the most suitable landing option.
The Chandrayaan-4 architecture will involve five key elements: a Propulsion Module, a Descender Module, an Ascender Module, a Transfer Module and a Re-entry Module. ISRO has stated that the Descender and Ascender modules will operate as a combined stack to execute a soft landing on the lunar surface at the designated site.
The agency added that the landing will rely on a carefully planned descent trajectory supported by navigation, guidance and control systems. It noted that mission safety depends not only on technology but also on choosing a landing site that satisfies all the lander’s operational constraints.