PM Modi confirms India-Japan collaboration on Chandrayaan-5

In a boost to international space cooperation, during his visit to Tokyo, Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that India and Japan will join forces for the upcoming Chandrayaan-5 mission to the moon.

In an interview to a Japanese newspaper The Yomiuri Shimbun, Modi said the joint missions will also help deepen the understanding of the shadowed areas of the lunar south pole.

The two nations will expand the use of respective space systems for national security, satellite-based navigation and earth observation.

“From Chandrayaan-3’s historic landing on the moon’s south pole to our advances in interplanetary missions, India has consistently demonstrated that space is not the final frontier, it is the next frontier. I am glad that India and Japan are joining hands for the next edition of the Chandrayaan series or the LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration) mission. This will contribute to deepening our understanding of the permanently shadowed regions at the lunar south pole,” Modi said.

He expressed confidence that the two countries’ scientific teams will be working together to push the boundaries of space science.

“And, our partnership in space will not only expand horizons above us, but also improve lives around us. Our G2G collaboration in the space sector, between ISRO and JAXA, is fostering a culture of cooperation between our industries and startups. This is creating an ecosystem where innovation flows both ways — from labs to launch pads, and from research to real-world applications,” he said.

The two countries will also collaborate in Space Situational Awareness, including tracking, monitoring and management of space debris. One of the outcomes of the visit is the enhanced cooperation in space technologies and facilitating linkages between private commercial entities and startups in the space sector.

The mission will be launched by JAXA onboard its H3-24L launch vehicle, carrying the ISRO-made lunar lander, which will carry the MHI, Japan-made lunar rover.

ISRO, apart from developing the lunar lander, is also responsible for developing a few scientific instruments for the mission. The scientific instruments for this mission would be contributed by ISRO, JAXA, ESA and NASA, all thematically connected with the exploration and in-situ analysis of the volatiles reserved in the lunar polar region. The approval for the Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission was received by the Government of India on March 10, 2025, in the form of financial sanction.

In May this year, ISRO and JAXA jointly conducted the third face-to-face Technical Interface Meeting (TIM-3), towards the Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission, in ISRO Headquarters, Bengaluru.