India and Japan are preparing for a landmark collaboration with the Chandrayaan-5 (LUPEX) mission, a joint lunar project designed to unlock the secrets of the Moon’s south pole.
Building on the legacy of India’s successful Chandrayaan program, the mission received official approval in March 2025. It will feature an ISRO-developed lander carrying a Japan-built rover weighing nearly 250 kg — far more advanced and capable than Chandrayaan-3’s rover.
Scheduled to launch aboard JAXA’s H3-24L rocket, Chandrayaan-5 will target the permanently shadowed regions of the lunar south pole, areas thought to harbor water and ice deposits that are vital for future exploration and human settlement.
With a combined payload of 6.5 tonnes, the rover will carry state-of-the-art instruments that includes Water analyzers & spectrometers for composition studies,Ground-penetrating radar to detect subsurface ice and A 1.5-meter drill to extract and test lunar soil samples.
These instruments will come from ISRO, JAXA, ESA, and NASA, reflecting the mission’s multinational importance.
Chandrayaan-5 is currently in the design and planning phase, following the successful third Technical Interface Meeting (TIM-3) where ISRO, JAXA, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries finalized landing sites, payloads, and mission timelines.
The mission is projected to launch around 2028–2029 with an initial 100-day operational period, extendable based on conditions. Its discoveries could reshape our understanding of lunar resources, paving the way for India’s goal of sending astronauts to the Moon by 2040.
Beyond science, Chandrayaan-5 stands as a symbol of peaceful collaboration, highlighting Asia’s growing leadership in space exploration and its role in the future of humanity’s lunar ambitions.
