China’s Chang’e-7 lunar mission, scheduled for launch later this year, will carry out environmental and resource surveys at the Moon’s south pole, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.
The mission will use a combination of orbiting, landing, roving and hopping technologies, agency spokesperson Zhang Jingbo said, according to Chinese state media.
Aimed at exploring the Moon’s south pole, the robotic mission will search for water ice and assess the region’s suitability for a future research base.
In April, the Chang’e-7 probe was transported to the launch site in Hainan province and is currently undergoing pre-launch preparations, Zhang said, adding that work is progressing as planned.
India became the first country to land near the Moon’s largely unexplored south pole region in 2023, when Chandrayaan-3’s lander and Pragyaan rover successfully touched down there.
Last year, China’s Chang’e-6 mission returned the first-ever samples collected from the Moon’s far side.
China is also aiming to achieve a crewed Moon landing by 2030. Zhang said the country has merged its manned lunar landing and unmanned exploration programmes into a unified lunar exploration project, according to state-run Xinhua news agency.
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