Chang'e 7 is a robotic lunar mission by the China National Space Administration that will search for water ice at the Moon's south pole with four spacecraft working together: an orbiter, a lander, a rover, and a hopping probe built to fly into permanently shadowed craters.[1][2] Its launch window on a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Site opens on August 24, 2026,[2][3] and the lander is targeting the illuminated rim of Shackleton crater, a 21-kilometer-wide crater at the lunar south pole,[1][4] with touchdown planned for around November 2026.[3] The mission's 2023 payload configuration lists 18 science instruments,[4] and six more contributed by Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand, and the International Lunar Observatory Association were announced in April 2024.[5] Chang'e 7 belongs to the fourth phase of China's Chang'e lunar program[10] and, together with Chang'e 8, is a precursor to the planned International Lunar Research Station.[6]
Status as of August 2026
Chang'e 7 is on the pad and has not launched as of August 22, 2026. The probe, stacked on its Long March 5 Y14 rocket, was moved vertically to the launch area at Wenchang on August 19, the China Manned Space Agency announced,[7] and the launch window opens on the morning of August 24 Beijing time, the evening of August 23 in the eastern United States.[2][3] The spacecraft had arrived at the spaceport in April for final assembly and testing.[1] The date carries one known risk: a Long March 7A broke apart 85 seconds after liftoff from the same spaceport on August 10, and the Long March 5's boosters burn the same YF-100 engines as the failed rocket, so the accident investigation has introduced some uncertainty into the schedule.[8][9] If the mission flies on time, the spacecraft should reach lunar orbit within about six days and spend roughly two months preparing before the landing attempt, expected around November.[3]
Mission overview and objectives
Chang'e 7's central question is water. Remote sensing has long pointed to ice inside the permanently shadowed craters near the lunar poles, and the mission is designed to establish on the ground where that ice sits, in what form and concentration, and whether it could realistically be reached and used, which shifts China's lunar program from exploring the Moon toward assessing its resources.[9] Water matters to every lunar base plan because it can be split into breathable oxygen and rocket propellant, and Chang'e 7's survey of the region's environment and resources will feed the siting of the research station China intends to build at the south pole.[9][10]
The mission's science plan, published in National Science Review in December 2023, groups its work into six areas: the distribution of water ice and volatiles, the topography and composition of the south polar region, the Moon's internal structure and magnetic field, the surface environment and its interaction with the solar wind, observation of Earth from the lunar surface and orbit, and radio interferometry experiments using the relay satellite.[4] Chang'e 7 is China's most sophisticated robotic lunar mission to date,[10] and it aims to make the first landing directly at the Moon's south pole.[2]
Spacecraft
Chang'e 7 launches as a single stack that separates into its components at the Moon. The orbiter surveys the pole from above while the lander delivers the rover and the hopping probe to the surface.[1][4]
| Component | Role | Science payloads |
|---|---|---|
| Orbiter | Maps the south polar region from lunar orbit and hunts for ice signatures from above | High-resolution stereo mapping camera, miniature synthetic aperture radar, infrared mineral imaging analyzer, neutron gamma spectrometer, magnetometer |
| Lander | Carries the rover and hopper to the surface, then runs a fixed science station on the crater rim | Seismograph, surface environment detection system, landing and topography cameras, plus the Italian, Russian, and International Lunar Observatory Association instruments |
| Rover | Drives the surrounding terrain, probing the shallow subsurface for volatiles | Panoramic camera, magnetometer, Raman spectrometer, ground-penetrating radar, in-situ volatile measurement system |
| Hopper | Flies from the sunlit rim into permanently shadowed craters and samples the soil there | Lunar soil water molecule analyzer |
The hopper is the element with no precedent. The six-legged craft is designed to leap from the lander's sunlit surroundings into nearby shadowed craters, with active shock absorption to let it set down safely on slopes.[2][3] Once inside a crater it will drill into the soil and analyze the extracted material with its water molecule analyzer, which uses mass spectrometry to detect water ice, methane, and other volatiles.[10][11] Because it is meant to make repeated flights, it would become only the second vehicle after NASA's Ingenuity helicopter on Mars to fly more than once on another world.[3]
Science payloads and international contributions
The mission's payload paper distributes 18 instruments across the program's spacecraft: five on the orbiter, four on the lander, five on the rover, one on the hopper, and three on the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, whose contribution includes a lunar-orbit radio interferometry experiment, an energetic neutral atom imager, and an extreme ultraviolet camera.[4] The lander's seismograph will listen for moonquakes from a fixed station, and magnetometers on both the orbiter and the rover probe the Moon's weak magnetic field.[4]
CNSA announced six internationally contributed instruments for the mission in April 2024, from six countries and one international organization.[5]
| Instrument | Contributor | Carried on |
|---|---|---|
| Laser retroreflector arrays | Italy | Lander |
| Lunar dust and electric field instrument | Russia | Lander |
| Lunar-based telescope | International Lunar Observatory Association | Lander |
| Lunar hyperspectral camera | Egypt and Bahrain | Orbiter |
| Two-channel spectrometer for Earth radiation measurement | Switzerland and China | Orbiter |
| Space weather global monitoring sensor package | Thailand | Orbiter |
The Italian retroreflectors support precise laser ranging and navigation, Russia's instrument studies the electrically charged dust environment at the surface, and the Swiss spectrometer measures the radiation entering and leaving Earth's climate system from the orbiter's vantage point.[5] The telescope, a 1.5-kilogram instrument developed by the International Lunar Observatory Association with the University of Hong Kong, will observe the galaxy and Earth from the lunar surface.[3][5]
Landing site and relay
The landing target is the illuminated rim of Shackleton crater, close to the lunar south pole itself. The site pairs the two things a polar mission needs: sunlight on the rim for power, and permanently shadowed terrain nearby where ice can persist.[9][10] The landing system targets an accuracy of better than 100 meters.[10] After launch the spacecraft takes up to six days to reach lunar orbit, and the lander separates for its descent attempt after about two months there, expected around November 2026.[3]
Communications for the mission run through Queqiao-2, the relay satellite CNSA launched to lunar orbit in March 2024 to support Chang'e 6 and subsequent missions.[12] For Chang'e 7 the relay does double duty, linking the mission to Earth while carrying three of its science payloads.[4][10][12]
Program context
The Chang'e program has moved in steps from orbiters through landers to sample returns; Chang'e 6 returned the first samples from the lunar far side, 1,935.3 grams, in June 2024.[14] Chang'e 7 belongs to the program's fourth phase,[10] and Chang'e 8 will follow to the Leibnitz Beta plateau, also called Mons Mouton, in 2028 or 2029 to test using local materials, including 3D printing bricks from lunar soil.[6] The two missions are precursors to the International Lunar Research Station, a south pole base program that CNSA leads jointly with Roscosmos and other partners for the 2030s.[6][9]
China has also stated its intent to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, so a successful Chang'e 7 would map the ground and the resources ahead of both robotic and crewed follow-ons.[13] The same water ice question drives the American plans for the region: NASA's Artemis program is working toward crewed landings there, with Artemis IV planned for 2028.[3]
References
- China's Chang'e-7 arrives at spaceport for lunar south pole exploration mission - SpaceNews, April 10, 2026.
- China's Chang'e 7 moon probe will launch this weekend on the most ambitious lunar mission in history - Space.com, August 20, 2026.
- China's Chang'e 7 moonshot will seek water ice at the lunar south pole - Scientific American, August 20, 2026.
- Scientific objectives and payload configuration of the Chang'E-7 mission - Wang et al., National Science Review, December 2023.
- China's Chang'e-7 lunar mission to carry instruments developed through int'l cooperation - China National Space Administration, April 26, 2024.
- China selects international payloads for Chang'e-8 lunar south pole mission - SpaceNews, April 2025.
- China prepares to launch Chang'e-7 lunar probe - Xinhua, August 19, 2026.
- Chinese Long March 7A rocket explodes shortly after liftoff - SpaceNews, August 10, 2026.
- China is launching a Moon mission to find water ice. It's unlike anything NASA has done - The Conversation (Richard de Grijs, Macquarie University), August 20, 2026.
- Chang'e-7: China's water-hunting lunar south pole mission - The Planetary Society.
- Hopping robot will hunt for moon water on China's Chang'e 7 lunar mission in 2026 - Space.com, June 2026.
- China launches Chang'e-6 mission to collect first samples from the moon's far side - SpaceNews, May 2024.
- China targets 2026 for first Long March 10 launch, new lunar crew spacecraft flight - SpaceNews.
- China's Chang'e-6 collects 1935.3 grams of samples from the moon's far side - China National Space Administration, June 2024.
