India to launch Chandrayaan-4 in 2028: ISRO chairman

ISRO Chairman V Narayanan

ISRO is gearing up for one of its busiest times with seven more launches planned this financial year, even as India's first human spaceflight remains scheduled for 2027, its chairman V Narayanan said.

Narayanan said ISRO (Indian Space Research Organisation) is targeting seven more launches before the end of the current financial year, including a commercial communication satellite, and multiple PSLV and GSLV missions.

The ISRO chief said the government has approved the Chandrayaan-4 mission, designed as a lunar sample-return mission and it will be India's most complex lunar endeavour yet. "We are targeting 2028 for Chandrayaan-4," he said.

Another key mission is LUPEX, the joint lunar polar exploration programme with JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency). Chandrayaan-4 will attempt to bring back samples from the moon - a capability currently demonstrated only by the US, Russia and China.

Narayanan said ISRO has begun work on an Indian Space Station, targeted for completion by 2035. "The first of the five modules will be placed in orbit by 2028," he said.

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