China postpones Change-7 moon mission to lunar south pole due to tropical storm

China’s space agency postponed the launch of its Chang’e-7 lunar mission, announcing on Sunday that the mission “does not meet the launch conditions and cannot take place during the planned window this year,” according to a statement from the China Manned Space Engineering Office reported by state media Xinhua.

The mission, designed to search for water ice at the moon’s south pole, was expected to lift off as early as Sunday evening or Monday morning Beijing time from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan island. The decision followed a “comprehensive assessment” based on the principles of “prudence, reliability and absolute mission success,” the agency said, without specifying the cause France 24 with AP.

Thailand’s National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, whose CE-7 MATCH instrument is part of the mission, cited Tropical Storm Narra as the reason for the delay, stating the launch had been pushed back by about a month dpa. The storm had been circulating near Hainan and southern China over the weekend, according to the institute.

The Chang’e-7 mission includes an orbiter, lander, rover and a mini-hopping probe, intended to explore permanently shadowed craters at the lunar south pole and survey the environment and resources, as previously reported by the official Xinhua news agency France 24 with AP. The mission is the seventh in China’s Chang’e lunar exploration program, named after the Chinese moon goddess.

The postponement comes less than two weeks after a Long March 7A rocket carrying a communications satellite suffered an “anomalie” after liftoff from Wenchang on Aug. 10, with Singapore-based Channel NewsAsia reporting the rocket had exploded shortly after launch La Libre.

China has invested billions in its space program, aiming to send astronauts to the moon before 2030. The Chang’e-6 probe returned to Earth in 2024 with rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon, a first reported by Xinhua France 24 with AP. The U.S. Artemis program also seeks to return humans to the moon, with both nations targeting the south pole for potential water resources.