China announced on Sunday that it is postponing its ambitious Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which was intended to include explorations such as searching for water ice on the moon.
The Chang’e-7 spacecraft was originally slated to lift off over the coming days from the Wenchang Space Launch Site located on China’s southern Hainan island.
The mission does not meet launch conditions, the China Manned Space Agency said in a brief statement, explaining it “cannot take place during the planned window this year.”
“In keeping with the principle of proceeding prudently and reliably, and ensuring absolute success, after a comprehensive assessment it has been determined that the Chang’e 7 mission does not meet the conditions for launch and therefore cannot be carried out during the planned launch window this year.”
Preparations have been underway at the Wenchang launch site over the past several weeks for Chang’e-7, the seventh mission in China’s lunar exploration program.
The project aimed to achieve key technological breakthroughs, state news agency Xinhua previously reported.
It was set to explore permanently shadowed craters on the moon while conducting environmental and resource surveys across the lunar south pole, according to Xinhua, which cited the space agency.
Chang’e refers to a Chinese moon goddess. The Chang’e-6 probe returned to Earth in 2024 carrying soil and rock samples from the far side of the moon in a world first.