UPPSC 2024 Prelims GS Paper-I · Question 88 of 150

Correct — C, Only 1. Statement 1 is straightforwardly true: LUPEX, the Lunar Polar Exploration Mission, is a joint India–Japan Moon mission of ISRO and JAXA, it targets the lunar south polar region to look for water ice, and as of the December 2024 exam it had not yet flown — the launch has been spoken of for later this decade and the target date has slipped more than once, so 'shall be launched in the future' was accurate on exam day and remains accurate now. Statement 2 is where the setter plants the error, and the error is a clean reversal. The division of labour is the other way round: ISRO is building the LANDER, while JAXA is supplying the ROVER and the H3 LAUNCH VEHICLE that will carry the stack to the Moon. The question hands you 'JAXA — lander, ISRO — rover and launch vehicle', which swaps both halves. One true statement and one false one gives 'Only 1', option (c). The split is easier to hold in memory once you see the logic behind it. India comes to this partnership with a demonstrated soft-landing capability — Chandrayaan-3's Vikram set down in the lunar south polar region on 23 August 2023, making India the first country to soft-land near the south pole — so the lander is naturally India's. Japan brings the H3, its new heavy launch vehicle, and a long record in surface-rover and sample-return engineering, so the rover and the ride are naturally Japan's. Learn the mission as 'India lands it, Japan drives and launches it', and the reversal in statement 2 becomes visible on sight.

• (a)Only 2 — This is the exact opposite of the truth. Statement 2 is the false one — the responsibilities named in it are reversed, since ISRO develops the lander and JAXA provides the rover and the H3 launch vehicle. Statement 1, meanwhile, is entirely correct. A candidate who has only heard that LUPEX involves both agencies, without registering who does what, is as likely to pick (a) as (c), which is precisely the discrimination the question is built to test.
• (b)Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 1 is true, so 'neither' cannot stand. LUPEX genuinely is an ISRO–JAXA joint Moon mission that had not been launched by the date of this exam. Candidates choose (b) when they wrongly assume the mission has been cancelled or already flown, or when they confuse LUPEX with Chandrayaan-3, which was a purely Indian mission and had already landed in August 2023.
• (d)Both 1 and 2 — Statement 1 is right but statement 2 is not, so 'both' fails. This is the option that catches the candidate who knows LUPEX is an India–Japan mission and, satisfied that the item is broadly factual, does not stop to check which agency owns which element. The lander is ISRO's; the rover and the H3 launch vehicle are JAXA's.

LUPEX is the next step in India's lunar programme and its first lunar mission built as a genuine international partnership with a division of hardware rather than a division of instruments. The scientific target is the Moon's south polar region, where crater floors are permanently shadowed from sunlight and are believed to hold water ice preserved over geological time. Water ice matters because it is simultaneously a scientific record of how volatiles arrived in the inner solar system and a practical resource — a future base could split it into drinking water, breathable oxygen and rocket propellant instead of hauling all three from Earth. LUPEX is therefore designed to land near the pole, drill and sample the regolith, and measure the quantity and form in which that water actually exists.

In joint space missions the examinable detail is always the split of responsibilities, because that is what can be inverted to make a wrong statement that reads perfectly well. UPPSC and UPSC both use this device — you are told that agency X does the thing agency Y actually does. The defence is to attach each partner to the capability it is known for. India has just demonstrated a polar soft landing with Chandrayaan-3, so India builds the lander. Japan has the H3 launch vehicle and a strong rover and sample-return heritage, so Japan supplies the rover and the launch. Keep the same discipline for other joint missions you will be asked about: in NISAR, ISRO supplies the S-band radar and the launch while NASA supplies the L-band radar, and knowing which side owns which piece is the whole of the question.

• LUPEX (Lunar Polar Exploration Mission) is a joint ISRO–JAXA mission to the Moon's south polar region, aimed at establishing the quantity and form of lunar water ice; it had not been launched as of the December 2024 exam.
• The division of work is ISRO = lander, JAXA = rover and the H3 launch vehicle — the reverse of what statement 2 in this question asserts.
• The JAXA rover is the heavier element of the payload, at roughly 350 kg, and is designed to carry drilling and sampling instruments to the surface.
• Launch has been projected for later this decade; the date has been revised more than once, so treat any single year you see quoted as provisional.
• The Indian capability behind the lander role is Chandrayaan-3, whose Vikram lander touched down in the lunar south polar region on 23 August 2023.

• Reversed-role statements in joint missions. The setter's favourite trick is to swap the two partners' hardware; fix each agency to the capability it is famous for.
• Treating a projected launch year as a hard fact. LUPEX's target date has moved more than once, so 'later this decade' is the safe formulation.
• Confusing LUPEX with Chandrayaan-3. Chandrayaan-3 was an entirely Indian mission that had already landed in August 2023; LUPEX is the India–Japan mission still to fly.

UPPSC asks LUPEX-type items as two-statement current affairs where one statement carries the partnership and the other the division of work; UPSC prefers to ask what the mission is for or which agency owns a particular element. Either way the examinable unit is partner, payload, launch vehicle and target region.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  In the India–Japan Lunar Polar Exploration Mission (LUPEX), the launch vehicle is to be provided by

  • (a)ISRO
  • (b)JAXA
  • (c)NASA
  • (d)the European Space Agency

  Answer(b) JAXA — Japan supplies both the rover and the H3 launch vehicle for LUPEX, while ISRO builds the lander.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Moon's south polar region is the target of recent lunar missions mainly because

  • (a)it receives the most sunlight and is therefore best for solar power
  • (b)its permanently shadowed craters are believed to hold water ice
  • (c)it has the thickest lunar atmosphere
  • (d)it is the site of the Apollo landings

  Answer(b) its permanently shadowed craters are believed to hold water ice — crater floors near the poles never receive direct sunlight, so volatiles can survive there, and that ice is both a scientific record and a potential source of water, oxygen and propellant.