The Chinese will be ahead of everyone else by at least one year, but probably several years."
China's next robotic moon mission is scheduled to launch later this year, helping set the stage for the nation's planned multi-phased lunar outpost.
The
Chang'e 7 mission is on tap to reconnoiter
the moon's south pole, making use of an orbiter, lander, rover and a water-seeking, well-instrumented lunar hopper.
This upcoming
moon trek will also help advance
the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a collaboration involving China, Russia and a number of other countries to set up a base near the lunar south pole.
Rigorous schedule
"Programmatically, the Chang'e series is on a rigorous schedule.
They all launched as scheduled," said Norbert Schörghofer, a senior scientist for the Planetary Science Institute who's based in Honolulu, Hawaii.
"It's hard to know for sure what China is planning in the longer term, but since they have a successful lunar exploration program and lots of government resources, I'd fully expect they will construct a lunar base soon, perhaps using their own advanced robots," Schörghofer told Space.com.
It is likely that the Chang'e 7 lunar lander will touch down near Shackleton Crater, Schörghofer advised, outfitted with an international array of scientific instruments. "Chang'e 7 is destined to find water ice and make the first in-situ measurements of water ice on the moon," he said.
A critical question is where to build the first base on the moon, said Schörghofer. Ideally, it should be near significant water ice deposits.
"Chang'e 7 will not settle how water ice is exactly distributed geographically, but it will certainly make relevant discoveries," Schörghofer said.
"The Chinese will be ahead of everyone else by at least one year, but probably several years. Chang'e 7 is a key mission for the study of lunar volatiles," he added, "but we need more missions."
Foreign payloads
Chang'e 7 is reportedly scheduled for liftoff in the second half of 2026.
Last year, a memorandum was signed by Russia's space agency Roscosmos and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Chang'e 7 will carry a Russian scientific instrument called Dust Monitoring of the Moon, which will study dust components and dynamics of the near-surface exosphere of the moon;
registration of micrometeorites and secondary particles of lunar regolith; and the parameters of low-energy plasma near the surface of the moon.
That Russian instrument will be integrated into Chang'e 7, along with other foreign payloads from such countries as Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, Switzerland and Thailand.
Wide-field telescope
On Chang'e-7's manifest for the moon is a telescope, a collaboration between the University of Hong Kong’s Laboratory for Space Research and the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA) based in Waimea, Hawaii.
Steve Durst, the founding director of ILOA, told Space.com that the ILO-C is a small, wide-field telescope designed for the Chang'e 7 lunar lander. The instrument has successfully passed all flight model testing, securing its acceptance as a payload, he said.
"This advanced astronomical camera is set to launch aboard China's Chang'e 7 mission, scheduled to land near the illuminated rim of Shackleton Crater in the lunar south pole region in November 2026," Durst said. "
The telescope aims to capture stunning images of the galactic plane, contributing to lunar science and inspiring future generations."
Research Hotspot
Water ice in the lunar polar regions has emerged as a major research hotspot in lunar science, observed Yang Liu of the National Space Science Center in Beijing.
Yang and colleagues detailed Chang'e 7 mission goals at the 2nd Lunar Polar Volatiles Conference, which was held last November in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Chang'e 7's candidate landing site is near the rim of Shackleton Crater at the lunar south pole. One of the mission's primary scientific tasks is to conduct remote sensing and on-the-spot investigations of water ice at the lunar south pole.
Chang'e 7 features an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a mini-flying probe or hopper, which together will tote to the moon a total of
18 scientific instruments.
The lander will deploy China's inaugural deep-space "landmark image navigation" system to ensure a safe and precise landing.
Mission intent, Yang stated, is to explore the environment and resources in the lunar south polar region by conducting a series of steps: orbiting, landing, roving and mini-flying. [...]
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