24.04.2024
Chinas Change-7 lunar mission to carry instruments developed through intl cooperation
China's Chang'e-7 lunar exploration mission will carry six scientific instruments developed by six countries and one international organization, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Wednesday.
The Chang'e-7 mission, scheduled for launch around 2026, aims to survey the lunar surface environment, water, ice and volatile elements of lunar soil in the lunar south pole. It will also carry out research on the lunar terrain, composition and structure, the CNSA announced at the launch ceremony of China's Space Day in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.
The countries and the international organization participating in the development of the scientific instruments are Egypt, Bahrain, Italy, Russia, Switzerland, Thailand and the International Lunar Observatory Association.
The Chang'e-7 lander will carry laser retroreflector arrays developed by Italy to provide high-precision measurement on the lunar surface and navigation services of the orbiter.
A lunar dust and electric field instrument developed by Russia will be aboard the lander to detect the dusty plasma environment of the lunar surface.
A lunar-based telescope developed by the International Lunar Observatory Association will also be installed on the lander so that observations on the Galaxy, the Earth and the full sky can be made.
The orbiter will carry a lunar hyperspectral camera developed by Egypt and Bahrain to identify the lunar surface material and the lunar environment.
A moon-based, two channel spectrometer for Earth radiation measurement developed through cooperation between Swiss and Chinese scientists will be installed on the orbiter to monitor --for the first time from a lunar perspective -- the radiation incoming to and outgoing from the Earth's climate system.
The orbiter will also be equipped with a sensor package for space weather global monitoring to provide alerts and warnings of magnetic disturbances and radiation due to solar storm.
Quelle: Xinhua
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Update: 15.07.2024
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HKU and ILOA Join Forces for Chang'e-7 Moon Lander Mission Set for 2026
The Laboratory for Space Research at The University of Hong Kong (HKU-LSR) has signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the International Lunar Observatory Association Hawai'i (ILOA) on May 16, 2024, marking a partnership to participate in the ILOA-led Chang'e 7 lunar mission. This mission features a small, wide-field optical telescope named ILO-C. The HKU-LSR telescope design has been selected, and development is underway. The ILO-C telescope will be installed on the Chang'E-7 lunar lander, set to launch in 2026.
On June 14, a formal Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Beijing to solidify broader cooperation in lunar exploration and education. Steve Durst, Founding Director of ILOA Hawai'i, signed the MoU with Professor Quentin Parker, Director of HKU-LSR. Suijian Xue, Group Leader of Sky Survey from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC), and the National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand (NARIT) joined the MoU as observers, intending to expand future collaboration.
The ILOA-HKU partnership aims to create a cost-effective, small wide-field telescope camera for the Chang'E-7 mission, focusing on functionality and scientific capability for imaging the Milky Way and the Galaxy center from the Moon.
Steve Durst of ILOA stated, "The ILO-C payload aboard China's Chang'E-7 lander seeks to advance Galaxy imaging, 21st Century Astronomy/Science from the Moon and precursor proof-of-concept development for the ILO-1 flagship mission to Malapert Summit. ILOA, in cooperation with long-time partner NAOC and new collaborator HKU, sees ILO-C as a historic first and advance for the America-China-International Moon cooperation. Also notable, the projected 2026 Chang'E-7 landing area Shackleton Rim is a leading site consideration for the USA Artemis 3 mission attempt to land the first woman and others on the Moon, as early as 2026."
Professor Suijian Xue from NAOC commented, "I am very pleased with the collaborative efforts from HKU-LSR in developing and operating the ILO-C instrument aboard the Chang'E-7 Moon Lander. I greatly appreciate the LSR team's professional diligence and the innovative design solution for the camera, which serves both Galaxy / Astronomy Imaging and 21st Century Science and Education. This collaboration will significantly strengthen the long-term partnership between NAOC, ILOA and now HKU."
Professor Quentin Parker added, "Thanks to an exceptional combined leadership, design and engineering team across the two organizations, and with a true spirit of international collaboration, HKU and the LSR are very proud to be equal partners in this lunar mission for science and education with ILOA. We are particularly honored that our wide-field optical design has been chosen for the ILO-C camera on the Chang'E-7 lunar lander."
Finally, Professor Max Shen, Vice-President and Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research) of HKU, expressed his excitement about this collaboration, "The Laboratory for Space Research at HKU has once again distinguished itself on the global stage through its selection as an equal partner in the ILO-C Chang'e 7 moon mission. This opportunity is a testament to the calibre of our University's unwavering dedication to international collaboration in pursuing lunar exploration and discovery. We are honoured to work alongside our esteemed counterparts, and I have every confidence that this synergistic partnership will yield significant scientific outcomes that will inspire generations to come."
Quelle: SD
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Update: 5.02.2025
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China's Chang'e-7 mission to land on lunar south pole for water ice search: report
China's Chang'e-7 lunar probe, scheduled for launch in 2026, will target the moon's south pole to search for water ice and test cutting-edge technologies critical for sustainable human activities on the moon, China Media Group reported Monday.
The mission using an innovative hopper spacecraft equipped with a water molecule analyzer aims to confirm the presence and distribution of water ice in permanently shadowed craters, said the report.
The Chang'e-3 and Chang'e-5 missions successfully landed on the moon's near side, while Chang'e-4 and Chang'e-6 achieved historic touchdowns on the far side. Therefore, Chang'e-7's planned landing at the lunar south pole will test the capability of China's lunar probe to reach any region of the moon, Tang Yuhua, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-7 mission, said in the interview.
If lunar water ice is successfully located, it could significantly reduce the cost and time required to transport water from Earth, facilitating the establishment of a human base for long-term activities on the moon and enabling further exploration of Mars or deep space, Tang said.
According to Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China's lunar exploration program, the Chang'e-7 probe - comprising an orbiter, a lander, a rover, and a mobile hopper - will face extreme challenges, including temperatures below minus 100 degrees Celsius and complex terrain.
The hopper, a first-of-its-kind lunar explorer, will "jump" from sunlit areas to shadowed craters to conduct detailed analyses. The lander will deploy China's inaugural deep-space "landmark image navigation" system to ensure precision, while the hopper utilizes active shock-absorption technology to safely land on slopes, said the report.
The probe can autonomously analyze its landing terrain, with more than half of its operations performed independently without requiring ground intervention. The solar panels installed vertically on the probe are being optimized to capture low-angle sunlight near the lunar pole, Tang said, adding that the mission has entered its final assembly and testing phase.
Quelle: Xinhua
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Update: 7.01.2026
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China's next moonshot: Chang'e 7 could search the lunar south pole for water this year
"The Chinese will be ahead of everyone else by at least one year, but probably several years."
Depiction of China's Chang'e 7 lunar mission. (Image credit: China Media Group)
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."
The candidate landing region of China's Chang'e 7 lunar lander. (Image credit: Yang Liu/Wang C. et al.)
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."
Shackleton Crater is an impact feature that lies at the moon's south pole. While peaks along the crater's rim are exposed to almost continual sunlight, the interior is perpetually in shadow. (Image credit: NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University)
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.
China's Chang'e 7 moon hopper is equipped with an instrument called the Lunar soil Water molecule Analyzer, which integrates four components: a differential absorption spectrometer, lunar soil heating module, tunable laser spectrometer, and time-of-flight mass spectrometer. (Image credit: Nailiang Cao, et al.
Water ice exploration
To achieve that objective, Chang'e 7 is equipped with six scientific payloads related to water ice exploration. These include a lunar neutron gamma spectrometer and a wide-band infrared spectrum mineral imaging analyzer, as well as a miniature synthetic aperture radar onboard the orbiter.
Mounted on the Chang'e 7 rover is a lunar Raman spectrometer and a system to measure volatiles on the lunar surface, Yang explained.
The mini-flying probe will utilize active shock-absorption technology to safely land on slopes. Notably, the hopper is equipped with a LUnar soil Water molecule Analyzer (LUWA), deemed as a critical payload designed to characterize the form, abundance and origin of water ice in permanently shadowed regions (PSRs) on the moon.
On-the-spot access
The hopper is built for direct, on-the-spot access to PSRs, states a paper led by Nailiang Cao of the Anhui Institute of Optics Fine Mechanics, of the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science in Hefei, China.
Making use of multiple methods, Nailiang pointed out that LUWA is expected to resolve the abundance and origin of lunar water ice.
Another paper, led by Jie Zhang of the National Space Science Center in Beijing, noted that Chang'e 7's gauging of the thermal stability of lunar ice will be key.
Considering that the floor of Shackleton Crater is one of the potential sites for exploration by Chang'e 7's hopper, "mapping the thermal stability of water ice at high spatial resolutions in these regions can help to identify high-priority locations with great potential for hosting water ice," Jie and colleagues reported.
Furthermore, Jie said that laboratory simulations support the hypothesis that the majority of the surface regolith inside Shackleton Crater is conducive to the stable preservation of water ice.
China's moon master plan calls for achieving a crewed lunar landing before 2030. (Image credit: CMSA
Research station
Chang'e 7 will help pave the way for bigger things to come, if all goes to plan. Those "bigger things" include a crewed lunar landing, which China aims to achieve by 2030
Hot topic: Water ice in the lunar polar regions has emerged as a major research quest in lunar science. Robotic and human explorers are on the hunt for lunar polar volatiles that can be utilized for an extended astronaut stay on the moon. (Image credit: Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawaii at Manoa
The follow-on Chang'e 8 robotic mission in 2028 will test technologies for building habitats using lunar soil, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. Both Chang'e 7 and Chang'e 8 are seen as key enablers of the ILRS, which China wants to start building in the 2030s.
"We hope that on the basis of phase four of our lunar exploration program," Wu said, "there will be a large international scientific-technological research project initiated by China, with the participation of multiple countries."
The research station at the lunar south pole will be capable of automatically supplying power for itself and making telecommunications available on site.
Centered around the lunar south pole, the ILRS would be equipped with multiple systems including lunar rovers, landers, hoppers and networks. "Once assembled, we will be able to conduct long-term unmanned exploration there, as well as accommodate short-term human presence," Wu said.
Wu added that he believes that, ultimately, the construction of a lunar research station will serve China's future Mars missions. "I believe this is a very important goal for us," Wu said in an interview last year with the China Global Television Network.
Quelle: SC