ISRO's Chandrayaan-4 Successfully Enters Lunar Orbit
India's fourth lunar mission has successfully entered lunar orbit after a 30-day journey, setting up for the first Indian crewed lunar flyby mission next year.
Moon surface viewed from space with ISRO mission visualization
ISRO's Chandrayaan-4 spacecraft successfully entered lunar orbit on Monday, completing the first major milestone of India's most ambitious deep space mission to date.
The Manoeuvre
The lunar orbit insertion manoeuvre was performed at 03:17 IST and lasted approximately 22 minutes. ISRO's telemetry confirmed that the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit approximately 100 km above the lunar surface.
Mission Objectives
Chandrayaan-4 carries a suite of scientific instruments to map lunar subsurface water ice distribution. Data collected will inform site selection for India's upcoming lunar crewed mission planned for 2028.
Technical Achievements
The mission marks the first time ISRO has successfully performed a multi-body trajectory using the Earth–Moon Lagrange point, a technique previously used only by NASA and ESA missions.
What Comes Next
Over the next three weeks, the spacecraft will manoeuvre into its final science orbit. Scientific data transmission is expected to begin from October 15, 2026.
