On CNSA –China National Space Administration …. At. Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, People’s Republic of China ……Chang’e7 probe safely arrived at Wenchang Space Launch Site, China# Launch planned for the second half of this year…. As of the evening of April 9, 2026, the probe carrying out the Chang’e7 mission# has been safely transported to the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China via air-land combined transport. Subsequent pre-launch tests and preparations will proceed as planned.
The Chang’e 7 mission aims to break through key technologies such as high-precision soft landing on the lunar surface, legged walking, lunar flyby, and detection of permanently shadowed craters on the lunar surface. It will employ a comprehensive exploration approach including orbiting, landing, roving, and flyby to conduct environmental and resource surveys of the lunar south pole and to carry out international cooperation.
Currently, the launch site facilities and equipment are in good condition, and all preparations are progressing smoothly according to plan. Chang’e7 is planned for launch in the second half of this year .
To fully leverage the advantages of the new national system and utilize the technological capabilities and practical experience accumulated over decades in the manned spaceflight and Chang’e projects, and to enhance the overall benefits of China’s lunar exploration, China will deeply integrate existing resources and capabilities in the fields of manned lunar landing and unmanned lunar exploration . The Chang’e-7 probe arrived safely at the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the evening of April 9, 2026. It is scheduled to launch in the second half of this year (with a focus on the August launch window) and will begin humanity’s first on-site exploration of water ice at the lunar south pole
- A lunar south pole water ice exploration
probe will land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin above 85° south latitude on the Moon, attempting the world’s first in-situ confirmation of lunar water ice. If successful, China may become the first country to directly find water on the Moon, providing crucial resource support for the future construction of a lunar base. - Four key technological breakthroughs
- High-precision soft landing : By using landmark image comparison technology, sub-meter level pinpoint landing with an error of less than 100 meters is achieved, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the previous accuracy.
- Legged walking robot : Its six-legged locomotion design is adapted to the rugged terrain of the lunar south pole. It has the ability to crawl and drill, and can drill into shadow craters to obtain samples up to 1 meter deep.
- Leapfrog Exploration Debut : The leapfrog spacecraft can make three short flights, leaping from the illuminated area into the permanently shadowed crater to conduct in-situ analysis, breaking through the previous limitation that humans could not explore deep craters at close range.
- Extreme environmental challenges : Harbin Institute of Technology laboratory successfully prepared lunar soil water ice samples in a vacuum environment of -240℃, verifying the reliability of the equipment
🛰️ II. Detection Architecture and International Cooperation
- Four instruments and one satellite working together for detection
- Orbiter : Responsible for high-resolution remote sensing imaging and creating a “treasure map” of the landing area
- Lander : Equipped with a seismometer to explore the differences in internal structure between the near and far sides of the moon
- The rover (lunar rover) adopts a vertical solar array design to adapt to the low light environment of Antarctica.14
- Leapfrog : Independently performs shadow pit sampling tasks and has the ability to return to the
- The joint scientific payload from seven countries
carried six international instruments, including the Russian Lunar Dust Observatory, the Italian Laser Reflector, and the Egyptian-Bahrain Hyperspectral Imager, enabling data sharing. It also innovatively integrated an “electromagnetic flag” designed by primary school students in Changsha, using magnetic fields to dynamically display the flag in the lunar vacuum environment.
🚀 III. Current Progress and Future Plans
- The probe, ready for launch,
arrived in Wenchang via a combination of air and land transport using an An-124 transport aircraft. The launch site facilities are in good condition and have entered the final testing phase - The strategic extension goal
, together with Chang’e-8 launched in 2028, will form the basic model of a lunar research station, verify in-situ resource utilization technologies such as lunar soil 3D printing, and lay the foundation for China’s manned lunar landing around 2030 - To mitigate risks
associated with the complex terrain of the lunar south pole (numerous deep craters and harsh lighting), multi-sensor fusion obstacle avoidance technology is employed to avoid failure risks similar to those of the US “Athena” lander.
💬 IV. Public Concerns
- Technological confidence : Technological innovations such as legged walking and leapfrog exploration inspire public pride in the country’s space capabilities
- Shortcomings of domestically produced equipment : Reliance on the An-124 for transportation has sparked calls for the development of a domestically produced 400-ton-class super-large transport aircraft.
- Significance of the exploration : This is a landmark challenge that marks humanity’s first deep exploration of the Moon’s “eternal dark zone,” rewriting our understanding of extraterrestrial water resources.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration