ISRO Brings Academic Researchers Together to Shape the Next Chandrayaan Science Programme
A September 28–30 national meet at LEOS brought lunar researchers and students into discussions of mission lessons, sample return and polar-volatiles science.
ISRO brought academic researchers and students into a three-day national discussion of lunar science at its Laboratory for Electro Optics Systems in Bengaluru. The meet was scheduled for 28–30 September 2026; ISRO published its account on September 29.
About 150 participants registered, including 75 from academia and research institutes, across more than 45 institutions. Thirty-six students were pursuing lunar research.
From mission lessons to future questions
The agenda included science from Chandrayaan-1, 2 and 3 and lessons from mission planning and execution. Discussions also covered plans for Chandrayaan-4, India's lunar sample-return mission, and Chandrayaan-5/LuPEX, the collaboration with JAXA focused on lunar volatiles near a permanently shadowed region in the south-polar zone.
ISRO's account describes exchanges with academic institutions and a session on student ideas. It also identifies lunar-base and habitat hackathon students participating in the gathering.
What this milestone establishes
The immediate milestone is research coordination. The source announces neither a new launch nor a scientific discovery from this meeting.
For research teams, the useful next evidence will be concrete scientific questions, instruments, datasets and collaborations emerging from these discussions. Those outcomes should be assessed when documented, rather than assumed from attendance.
Source
Image: ISRO. The photograph shows the research gathering at LEOS, Bengaluru.