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| Attribute | LUPEX (ISRO lander + JAXA rover) Lunar Polar Exploration Mission Trust: Agency-primary Last verified Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | JAXA + ISRO | Blue Origin | SpaceX |
| Prime contractor | JAXA + ISRO | Blue Origin (with Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Draper, Astrobotic, Honeybee Robotics on prime team) | SpaceX |
| Status | In development | In development | In development |
| Customer | JAXAISRO | NASA-HLS | NASA-HLS |
| Launch date | 2028 (NET) | 2030 (NET — Artemis V crewed); uncrewed demo 2027 | 2027 (NET — Artemis III) |
| Landing date | — | — | — |
| Landing site | Lunar south pole (permanently shadowed crater margin) | Lunar south pole — 30-day surface stays | Lunar south pole (NASA-curated candidate region near 84-90°S) |
| Payload | ~350 kg rover with drilling to 1.5 m + ISRO lander (2026-05-28) | 20 t reusable / 30 t one-way to surface; crew 2-4 for up to 30 days (2026-01-04) | ~100 tonnes to lunar surface (sustained variant target) (2024-04-16) |
| Contract value | — | $3.4B (2023-05-19) | $2.89B + $1.15B Option B = $4.04B total (2022-11-15) |
| Outcome | Joint ISRO-JAXA water-ice prospecting mission, designated Chandrayaan-5 by India. India's cabinet approved Phase A on 2025-03-10. Launches on JAXA's H3. Carries American and European instruments alongside Indian and Japanese ones. | Selected May 2023 as second HLS provider for sustained Artemis-era lunar operations. Full-scale prototype delivered to NASA Johnson Space Center in early 2026 for astronaut training. Completed third pressurized suit-test campaign with NASA Johnson's Active Response Gravity Offload System (ARGOS). | Selected April 2021 as sole HLS provider for Artemis III. Architecture requires Super Heavy launch + multiple Starship tanker refueling flights in LEO + transit to NRHO + rendezvous with Orion (SLS). NASA OIG IG-26-004 (March 2026) flagged crew-rescue capability as open risk. October 2025: NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy reopened Artemis III lander contract to competition due to Starship development pace. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.