Scientific objectives and payload configuration of the Chang'E-7 mission

Chi Wang; Yingzhuo Jia; Changbin Xue; Yangting Lin; Jianzhong Liu; Xiaohui Fu; Lin Xu; Yun Huang; Yufen Zhao; Yigang Xu; Rui Gao; Yong Wei; Yuhua Tang; Dengyun Yu; Yongliao Zou

doi:10.1093/nsr/nwad329

Scientific objectives and payload configuration of the Chang'E-7 mission

Natl Sci Rev. 2023 Dec 29;11(2):nwad329. doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwad329. eCollection 2024 Feb.

Authors

Chi Wang^{1

2}, Yingzhuo Jia², Changbin Xue², Yangting Lin³, Jianzhong Liu⁴, Xiaohui Fu⁵, Lin Xu², Yun Huang², Yufen Zhao⁶, Yigang Xu⁷, Rui Gao⁸, Yong Wei³, Yuhua Tang⁹, Dengyun Yu¹⁰, Yongliao Zou^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Space Weather, National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
² National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China.
³ Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
⁴ Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550081, China.
⁵ Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Optical Astronomy and Solar-Terrestrial Environment, School of Space Science and Physics, Institute of Space Sciences, Shandong University, Weihai 264209, China.
⁶ Institute of Drug Discovery Technology, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Isotope Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
⁸ School of Earth Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275, China.
⁹ Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, Beijing 100190, China.
¹⁰ China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Beijing 100048, China.

Abstract

As the cornerstone mission of the fourth phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, Chang'E-7 (CE-7) was officially approved, and implementation started in 2022, including a main probe and a communication relay satellite. The main probe, consisting of an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a mini-flying probe, is scheduled to be launched in 2026. The lander will land on Shackleton crater's illuminated rim near the lunar south pole, along with the rover and mini-flying probe. The relay satellite (named Queqiao-2) will be launched in February 2024 as an independent mission to support relay communication during scientific exploration undertaken by Chang'E-4, the upcoming Chang'E-6 in 2024 and subsequent lunar missions. The CE-7 mission is mainly aimed at scientific and resource exploration of the lunar south pole. We present CE-7's scientific objectives, the scientific payloads configuration and the main functions for each scientific payload with its key technical specifications.

Keywords: Chang'E-7; scientific objectives; scientific payloads.

Publication types

Review