LUPEX / Chandrayaan-5 (Lunar Polar Exploration mission)

Kind

Spacecraft

Mission type

Prospecting

Target

MoonLunar south polar region (landing site being coordinated)South polar region, no point: Lunar south pole missions

Launch

Planned, no earlier than 2028

Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-31.

Launch vehicle

H3

Phase

In developmentJAXA LUPEX page (rechecked 2026-10-28) gives launch 'No earlier than 2028' on an H3. ISRO's 2025-05-15 release says the Government of India's financial sanction was received on 10 March 2025; ThePrint (2026-07-30) reports interface-finalisation meetings.

Outcome

Not applicable

Why it is included

Stated resource objective

Next recorded dates are plans, not results.

Launch: Planned, no earlier than 2028Announcement date not recorded. Record checked 2026-10-31.

Operators, payload owners, carriers and customers are recorded separately.

• ISRO-JAXA implementing arrangement (reported August 2025) not confirmed from a primary source.
• Earlier reports (2022) of a 2024 LUPEX flight imply schedule slips not recorded as history items for lack of a dated primary source.
• ThePrint quotation is retained without a current machine-match certification: its historical raw-match provenance is not established by retained checker evidence, and the page remains blocked. This does not establish that no historical match ever occurred. The financial-sanction statement is separately supported by the cited official ISRO page.

One web address counts as one publication.

1. [1]Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
   JAXA Space Exploration CenterGovernment recordAccessed 2026-10-31Supports: objective, why it is included, participants, summary

   JAXA is working with ISRO to plan an international collaborative mission to obtain the data on the quantity and forms of the water resources present on the Moon

   Quote matched the source text when accessed.
2. [2]Lunar Polar Exploration Mission
   JAXA Space Exploration CenterGovernment recordAccessed 2026-10-31Supports: launch date, launch vehicle

   Launch Year No earlier than 2028 Launch Vehicle H3 Rocket

   Quote matched the source text when accessed.
3. [3]JAXA, ISRO scientists meet to finalise mission interface for Chandrayaan-5 partnership
   ThePrintPressPublished 2026-07-30Accessed 2026-09-25Supports: phase, record history, date

   The approval for the Chandrayaan-5/LUPEX mission was received from the government of India on March 10, 2025, in the form of financial sanction

   Quote not machine-matched.
4. [4]Newly approved Chandrayaan 5 LUPEX mission will drill for water on the Moon and aid Artemis
   Jatan Mehta (jatan.space)PressPublished 2025-04-04Accessed 2026-10-28Supports: date

   the Indian Government's Union Cabinet approved the Chandrayaan 5/LUPEX mission on March 13

   Quote matched the source text when accessed.
5. [5]ISRO and JAXA Gear Up for Joint Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX Mission in the Technical Interface Meet
   ISROGovernment recordPublished 2025-05-15Accessed 2026-10-31Supports: phase

   The approval for the Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX mission was received from Government of India on March 10, 2025, in the form of financial sanction.

   Quote matched the source text when accessed.
6. [6]ISRO and JAXA Gear Up for Joint Chandrayaan-5 / LUPEX Mission in the Technical Interface Meet
   ISROGovernment recordPublished 2025-05-15Accessed 2026-10-31Supports: launch vehicle, participants

   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.

   Quote matched the source text when accessed.

SpaceMiningData, “LUPEX / Chandrayaan-5 (Lunar Polar Exploration mission)”, dataset version a00fa2c68a45, built 2026-11-11, https://spaceminingdata.com/missions/jaxa-isro-lupex.html. Record checked 2026-10-31.