On 23 August, China abruptly postponed the launch of its Chang’e-7 mission to study lunar water ice, a resource that could help establish crewed bases on the Moon.
Chang’e-7, sitting atop a Long March 5 rocket, had been rolled onto the launch pad last week. It was just hours away from a 24 August lift-off when the China Manned Space Agency tersely announced: “The Chang’e-7 mission does not meet the launch requirements and cannot be carried out within the scheduled launch window this year.” The decision was “based on the principles of prudence, reliability, and absolute safety,” it said.
The agency did not give a reason for the delay, but it may have been due to high winds from a tropical storm near the Wenchang Space Launch Site on China’s southern Hainan Island. Observers also raised the possibility of technical issues with the spacecraft or rocket. Two weeks ago, a Long March 7A rocket, which shares some of the same engines as the Long March 5, exploded less than 90 seconds after launch.
Decades of remote sensing by lunar orbiters suggest that permanently shadowed craters at the Moon’s poles could harbor stores of water ice. If it is abundant and reachable, it could provide breathable oxygen, drinking water, and hydrogen for rocket fuel, making a human presence on the Moon more feasible. Both China and the United States plan to start building lunar bases in the next few years.
Chang’e-7 was to lead a wave of missions that will directly investigate the abundance and origin of water ice by landing on and drilling into craters near the Moon’s south pole. If its launch is rescheduled for early next year, it could still beat NASA’s VIPER rover, set to launch in late 2027. The European Space Agency is also developing its PROSPECT drilling mission, while Japan and India are jointly developing the LUPEX spacecraft.
Although it may seem like a race, confirming the presence of water ice would be just a first small step toward a long-term human presence on the Moon, says Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong: “The construction of a lunar base is a long process.”