FILE PHOTO: The Chang'e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China May 3, 2024. | Photo Credit: EDUARDO BAPTISTA

China's lunar exploration mission Chang'e-7, which is scheduled for launch later this year, will conduct environmental and resource surveys of the Moon's south pole, the China Manned Space Agency said on Saturday.

The mission will employ a comprehensive exploration approach encompassing orbiting, landing, roving and hopping, Chinese official media quoted Zhang Jingbo, the agency's spokesperson, as saying.

The robotic mission, targeting the Moon's south pole, aims to search for water ice and assess the region for a future research base.

In April, the Chang'e-7 lunar probe was delivered to the launch site in the southern island province of Hainan, where it is undergoing pre-launch preparations. All related work is progressing steadily as planned, Zhang said.

In 2023, India became the first country to land near the little-explored lunar south pole region when its Chandrayaan-3's lander, carrying the Pragyaan rover, successfully landed there.

The next year, China’s Chang'e-6 lunar probe completed a mission to collect the first-ever samples from the Moon's unexplored far side and returned to earth.

China is also targeting a crewed lunar landing by 2030.

According to Zhang, the country has integrated its existing crewed lunar landing and unmanned lunar exploration efforts into a unified moon exploration project, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Published on May 23, 2026