NewsBytes

ISRO identifies site for Chandrayaan-4 lander

The Chandrayaan-4 Mission is at least two years away, but the ISRO has identified a location in the South Polar region of Moon to land its lander. The union 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. According to ISRO officials, they had zeroed in on four sites of the Mons Mouton (MM) and found one of them suitable for landing on the lunar surface. Mons Mouton is a region on the Moon. Officials said they had identified locations -- MM-1, MM-3, MM-4 and MM-5. Of them, MM-4 was chosen for the landing.  It was found that one kilometre by one kilometre area around MM-4 contains "the less hazard percentage, mean slope of 5 degrees, mean height of 5334 metres and most number of hazard free grids of size 24 metres into 24 metres. Hence, MM-4 could be considered as the potential site of Chandrayaan-4 mission, officials said. Chandrayaan-4 consists of a propulsion module (PM), a Descender module (DM), an Ascender Module (AM), a Transfer module (TM) and a Re-entry Module (RM). The DM and AM combined stack will soft land on moon surface at the designated site. The main soft landing will be done by an appropriate stack (AM+DM) descent trajectory with navigation, guidance and control system while the safe landing can be ensured by a proper selection of the landing site that meets all the constraints of the Lander.

NATO expected to launch Arctic Sentry mission in coming days

NATO is expected to launch an Arctic Sentry mission in the coming days, five sources told Reuters, in a move to boost its role in the region and defuse tensions between US President Donald Trump and European allies over Greenland. A decision to launch could come as early as this week, when the alliance's defence ministers meet in Brussels, according to three European diplomats, a military official and a person familiar with the matter.

India announces special economic package of $175 million for Seychelles

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced a special economic package of $175 million for Seychelles to support concrete projects in areas such as social housing, e-mobility, vocational training, health, defence and maritime security. He made the announcement during the joint press meet with Seychelles President Patrick Herminie here in the national capital. PM Modi underlined that the package would create new employement and skill-training opportunties for the people and especially youth of Seychelles.