First design study of lunar sample processing facility conducted, Isro long-term vision has Moon GPS and more | India News – Times of India

BENGALURU: Isro, which received its fourth approval from the Union Cabinet moon missionthe Chandrayaan-4has completed the initial design study for setting up a facility to handle the 2-3 kg moon monsters this mission will return to Earth, while the long-term vision for the moon will include establishing permanent communications networks and setting up GPS-like infrastructure on the moon, and much more.
In an exclusive interview with TOI, Isro chairman S Somanath said, “Currently, the experience of handling such material is only with PRL. And they did it with very sophisticated instruments. But many more facilities are needed for containerizing, slicing and long-term storage of raw materials.”
Currently, he said, the project details have been worked out by PRL and a configuration of the same is available. “Facilities construction is currently under discussion. This cannot be done in a short time and the costs are also high. We will have to look at how we can keep costs down, because we cannot spend too much money on sample processing; this will cost hundreds of crores. That is why we are investigating how we can do this at low costs. Those discussions are ongoing,” Somanath said.

Somanath points out that Chandrayaan-4 and other missions approved by the Cabinet on September 18 are only part of the first phase of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s long-term vision: space station Upgrade will be the next step as the approval now applies only to the first unit of Bhartiya Antriksh Station (BAS) and Isro needs four more BAS units.
After this, Isro will focus on missions to the space station – each mission is a rocket-plus-crew module that entails costs, which would differ depending on whether the mission is manned or unmanned.
“A range of these missions require building/construction and integration approval. After that, we need at least 3-4 missions per year to the space station. The next set of approvals will be the Chandrayaan mission series. These are beyond Chandrayaan-5,” Somanath said.
Isro needs a lot of technologies to prove itself. “For example, we have to go around the moon and come back. Next, we need to scale up the payload capacity, which will be comparable to that of the mission that will eventually take humans to the moon. We also need to set up a communications infrastructure on the moon so that you don’t have to rely on the module that we sent alone. We need a permanent communication station there,” Somanath said.
A human landing would also require navigation infrastructure such as GPS. “Landing is very difficult given the nature of the moon. At this time we use cameras to look at the terrain to determine a precise landing location. Landing accurately is easier on Earth because we have navigation tools. There are global efforts to build moon navigation infrastructure using multiple satellites and India should also be part of that and contribute so that we can use it,” Somanath said.
Finally, he said, India should set up ground systems. Currently, Isro has only one deep space network, which will not be enough. A global network is needed, including larger antennas on other continents.
“…We have started conversations about this. We also need a space-based communications network using relay satellites. This is being worked on for Gaganyaan. It is quite completed and will be launched in the coming days. Many such components are required. We have identified various phases in which we will seek approval,” Somanath said.