Overview
- The Chang'e‑7 stack was rolled to Wenchang on Aug. 19 and Chinese launch notices and agency statements place liftoff in a late‑August window around Aug. 23–24.
- The mission combines an orbiter, a precision lander, a wheeled rover and a six‑legged propulsive hopper to explore the lunar south pole and search for frozen water and other volatiles.
- The hopper will fly into permanently shadowed crater floors, scan with a laser‑based LUWA spectrometer, drill to roughly one metre, seal and heat tiny samples, and deliver released gases to onboard mass and laser spectrometers for analysis.
- After launch the spacecraft will enter a translunar trajectory and reach initial lunar orbit in about five days, with months of orbital imaging to pick a safe landing site and analysts estimating a surface touchdown possibly around November.
- Results will inform China’s goal of a crewed lunar landing before 2030 and an International Lunar Research Station while adding data to an international effort to map polar ice and raising practical and legal questions about future resource use.