India's Moon, Mars, Sun and Venus missions

Prelims and MainsCurrent affairs on this: Moon, Sun and planetary missions

India's planetary programme is a short list of missions, each with one clear result, and questions ask which found or carried what. Chandrayaan 1 (2008) orbited the Moon and its Moon Mineralogy Mapper, a NASA instrument, found water molecules in the soil. Chandrayaan 2 (2019) placed an orbiter that still works and lost its lander in descent. Chandrayaan 3 (2023) landed Vikram and the rover Pragyan near the lunar south pole on 23 August, the first landing in that region by any country, and measured sulphur and the temperature of the soil. Mangalyaan (2013 to 2014) reached Mars orbit at the first attempt and worked for eight years. Aditya L1 (2023) sits at the first Lagrange point watching the Sun's corona. Approved for the years ahead: Chandrayaan 4 to return a sample, Chandrayaan 5 with Japan to explore the south pole, and Shukrayaan to orbit Venus.

India's planetary missions

Mission	Year	Target	Type	Result or aim
Chandrayaan 1	2008	Moon	orbiter, impact probe	water molecules in lunar soil (Moon Mineralogy Mapper)
Chandrayaan 2	2019	Moon	orbiter, lander, rover	orbiter working; lander lost in descent
Chandrayaan 3	2023	Moon, south polar region	lander Vikram, rover Pragyan	first landing near the south pole; sulphur, soil temperature; propulsion module brought back to Earth orbit
Mangalyaan	2013 to 2014	Mars	orbiter	Mars orbit on first attempt; eight years of operation
Aditya L1	2023	Sun, from L1	observatory	corona, solar wind, space weather
SpaDeX	2025	Earth orbit	two small satellites	docking demonstrated, needed for sample return and the station
Chandrayaan 4	approved 2024	Moon	sample return	bring lunar soil to Earth
LUPEX (Chandrayaan 5)	approved	Moon, south pole	Indian lander, Japanese rover	water ice survey
Shukrayaan	approved 2024	Venus	orbiter	atmosphere and surface

Each mission answers one question; the sample return and the docking test are the bridge to the station and the Moon landing.Source: ISRO mission pages

Why the south pole: permanently shadowed craters that may hold water ice, useful for a base and for making fuel, and a rim where sunlight is nearly continuous for solar power; landing there is hard because the Sun is low and the terrain rough.
Chandrayaan 3's instruments: ChaSTE measured the soil temperature profile, ILSA listened for moonquakes, the laser induced breakdown spectroscope (LIBS) and the alpha particle x-ray spectrometer (APXS) on the rover found sulphur, aluminium, iron and other elements; the landing site is named Shiv Shakti point.
Lagrange points are places where the pull of the Sun and the Earth balance so a spacecraft can hold position; L1, 1.5 million km sunward, gives an uninterrupted view of the Sun, which is why Aditya L1 and the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) sit there.
Mangalyaan cost about Rs 450 crore and its methane sensor found no methane; its value was proving India could plan an interplanetary trajectory and operate a probe with a 20 minute signal delay.
The next steps: Chandrayaan 4, a sample return using two launches and a docking in lunar orbit, a manoeuvre rehearsed by the SpaDeX docking experiment of 2025; the Lunar Polar Exploration mission (LUPEX) with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), carrying an Indian lander and a Japanese rover; Shukrayaan to study Venus's atmosphere.

Mains: India's planetary missions are cheap because each carries few instruments and one goal, and that discipline, rather than the budget, is what let a lander reach the south pole before richer agencies.

UPSC has asked

Prelims 2016: Mangalyaan, the Mars Orbiter Mission

Further reading: Chandrayaan-3 details (ISRO) · Aditya-L1 mission details (ISRO)