India's Next Lunar Endeavour: ISRO Plans To Retrieve Moon Samples Back To Earth

ISRO is gearing up for a bold initiative, aiming to retrieve soil or rock samples from the Moon and bring them back to Earth, marking its inaugural attempt at such a mission.

The proposed mission is called the Lunar Sample Return Mission (LSRM). The mission will be similar to one undertaken by NASA, where it obtained the first-ever samples from the near-Earth asteroid, Bennu, in September this year.

“Hopefully, in the next five to seven years, we will be able to meet this challenge,” Nilesh Desai, Director, Space Application Centre (SAC), ISRO, told The Indian Express.

Under the project, soil/rock samples will be collected from the Shiv Shakti point on the lunar surface.

Breaking from the usual practice, the mission will employ two distinct launch vehicles. This decision is driven by the involvement of four modules: Transfer, Lander, Ascender, and Re-entry.

Similar to the highly successful Chandrayaan 3 mission in August, the upcoming project is scheduled for one lunar day, equivalent to 14 days on Earth.

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