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ISRO has worked out the architecture necessary for executing a crewed mission to the surface of the Moon. The launch vehicle will be the tallest, heaviest and most powerful rocket that ISRO has ever developed, and will be 93 m in height. ISRO is in the process of developing this Next Generation Launch Vehicle (NGLV), dubbed Soorya. V Narayanan, at a presentation at PRL Ahmedabad in February said, "At least you should understand what kind of a vehicle we are talking (about). Our Mark 3 vehicle height is 43 m, and liftoff mass is around 640 tonne. This vehicle liftoff mass will be something around 2,000 tonne, three times the Mark 3 vehicle liftoff mass."
The NGLV has a payload capacity of delivering 30 tonnes to Low Earth Orbit, while the Saturn V could deliver 140. ISRO cannot pack in all the hardware necessary for a crewed lunar mission on one rocket. ISRO will require two Soorya rockets to launch the crewed landing mission to the Moon. The first rocket will carry the Earth Departing Stage (EDS), which will transport the spacecraft to lunar orbit. The second Soorya rocket will have a combined payload consisting of the Crew Module, the Lunar Module and the Service Module with the life support systems and propulsion. The Lunar Module is a heavier version of the lander to provide access to the surface of the Moon.
ISRO has already demonstrated most of the key technologies required for a crewed mission to the Moon with the Chandrayaan 3 mission. The short hop towards the end of the mission proved that a crewed lander could take off from the Moon after landing. The Propulsion Module made the journey back to the Earth even with diminished fuel, demonstrating that ISRO can successfully execute a return mission to the Moon. ISRO is returning to the Moon with the Chandrayaan 4 sample return mission in 2026, followed by the Chandrayaan 5 precision landing mission in the 2028-29 timeframe, which is a collaboration between India and Japan.
