The National Space Commission has given the green light to India’s fifth lunar mission, the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (Lupex). This mission, a collaborative effort between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), aims to explore the Moon for water and other valuable resources.
Lupex is part of India's broader lunar exploration plan, which includes sending an astronaut to the Moon and ensuring their safe return. The mission is expected to last up to 100 days on the lunar surface, significantly longer than Chandrayaan-3’s mission life. While JAXA will build the rover and rocket, ISRO will focus on developing the lander system. The Lupex rover is projected to weigh around 350 kg, making it much larger than Chandrayaan-3’s 26 kg Pragyan rover.
The mission will target the Moon's exact south pole, specifically at 90-degree latitude, to investigate the presence of water and other critical resources. The Indo-Japanese mission will assess the quantity and distribution of water on and below the lunar surface. It will also study how water mixes with the dry regolith, which is the layer of loose rock and dust covering the Moon’s bedrock.
Building on the success of previous lunar missions, Lupex will explore permanently shadowed regions on the Moon, also known as the "dark side." The mission will carry out in-situ experiments and drilling, gathering crucial knowledge that will aid future sample-return missions and potential human landings on the Moon, with plans to send humans by 2040.
India and Japan have recently made notable advancements in lunar exploration. In August 2023, Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing near the lunar south pole made India the fourth country to achieve a Moon landing. Japan followed in January 2024 with the successful landing of its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM), becoming the fifth nation to do so.
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