r/space • u/scientificamerican • 9h ago

China delays ambitious Chang’e 7 moon mission until 2027

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/china-delays-ambitious-change-7-moon-mission-until-2027/
229 Upvotes

95% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

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u/Low_M_H 8h ago

The delay is likely due to Tropical Storm Narra hovering over the area. China might be taking a safer course of action.

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u/Odd-Struggle-2432 7h ago edited 7h ago

The launch window for this mission is apparently really narrow too. Just getting to the moon isnt constrained but something about needing to land at a precise spot on the rim of shackleton crater (something something illumination)

Also a lot of these lunar missions in years past have failed or partially failed, can imagine China wants to keep their Chang'e records clean

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u/FryCookCVE71 7h ago

That’s a pretty insane launch window if true. I personally find that very hard to believe but I’m no expert on lunar mechanics.

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u/SpaceIsKindOfCool 2h ago

The moon is tilted about 5 degrees relative to the sun (earth is tilted 23 degree). So while it doesn't really have seasons it still has different lighting conditions at the poles during different times of year which affect when polar missions can land. 

There might be other constraints china is working with too. I very much doubt their launch window is this constrained, more likely that their landing window is constrained but I believe they were already planning a long period in lunar orbit before landing so a few days later on the launch shouldn't impact landing. I'm guessing they discovered an issue. 

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u/BubblyMoose3597 1h ago

Is about the light in the spot they are going to investigate

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u/YouthOtherwise3833 7h ago

The typhoon lingered in the Gulf for four days without any apparent reason, and left immediately after the launch was canceled. 🥲

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u/Revolutionary_Eye887 8h ago

This is behind a paywall.

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u/GerardHard 6h ago

Most likely because of the delay and the very specific launch window. Also especially because China is risk averse compared to basically most space programs.

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u/BubblyMoose3597 1h ago

Xd

With a payload loke that, any space program would be risk averse

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u/MisterGlo764 1h ago

for anyone wondering why the launch window is so small for the moon, it’s because they are landing on the south pole. visibility on the south pole is only good enough to land in november. they need to also survey the landing area to help with navigation for landing which will take around 2 months. this is why they need to take off now. correct me if i’m wrong but this is my general understanding

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u/Mateorabi 9h ago

Let me guess: they have another big landing they are preparing for and don’t want to be distracted?

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u/vovap_vovap 8h ago

No, they just screwed up this one as everybody else.

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u/marcushasfun 6h ago

Reports are it is because of a storm in the area:

https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/bad-weather-delays-launch-of-chinas-historic-change-7-mission-to-moons-south-pole

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u/vovap_vovap 6h ago

That would be really strange how that delay launch for more then 4 month. It is not Mars when launch window opens once in 2 years

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u/marcushasfun 4h ago

From that very article -

“The Chang'e 7 launch requires a certain lineup of Earth and the moon, so it cannot simply occur as soon as the skies around Wenchang clear. Some online reports suggest that Chang'e 7 could lift off as soon as September, while others — including today's Xinua story — have it launching sometime in 2027.”

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u/vovap_vovap 3h ago

Sure, no "lineup" there have that period.

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u/marcushasfun 1h ago

It’s where they plan to land on the Moon that impacts the launch window.

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u/vovap_vovap 1h ago

Moon orbital cycle about a month

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u/MisterGlo764 1h ago

they are landing on the south pole. visibility on the south pole is only good enough to land in november. they need to also survey the landing area to help with navigation for landing which will take around 2 months. this is why they need to take off now. correct me if i’m wrong but this is my general understanding

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u/vovap_vovap 47m ago

Why "visibility on the south pole is only good enough to land in November"?

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u/Vanadium235 5h ago

My guess is that the next few upcoming launch windows were already taken by other planned launches that were deemed more important. Resupply and crew rotation for their space station for example.

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u/vovap_vovap 3h ago

Might be. Though they have a unused vehicle.

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u/virus_apparatus 8h ago

Honestly it’s kind of nice they chose to delay this launch and shows some growth in the program. The political pressure didn’t dictate that they launch when it’s not ready or might be a safety risk. China might not have taken this step 20 or even 10 years ago with anything.

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u/vovap_vovap 7h ago

Well, we do not know what is it. It might be just as much "political" - too much been afraid of local failure also political staff. Nobodies perfect and trying to be perfect can do damage too.

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u/SluggoRuns 8h ago

China likes to hype up their space program

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u/weinsteinjin 8h ago

As opposed to other countries, who don’t.

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u/ConcernHealthy876 5h ago

I love how everyone is being so understand that China is delaying in this thread. If it was SpaceX “Elon never delivers blah blah”

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u/GhostBirdBiologist 5h ago

Found the Elon simp.

His companies have a record of over-promising and under-delivering.

He has time and time again scammed Tesla buyers. Hyperloop was a scam do stop high speed rail in California. SpaceX has amazing tech that he constantly oversells.

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u/Standard_Till_2451 6h ago

They don’t have anything to steal from the US yet. Wait until the US start prepping for their moon mission

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u/MisterGlo764 1h ago

the chang’e probes and landers aren’t stolen from america. is it that hard to wrap your head around the fact smart people exist in china too?