China Delays Its Most Ambitious Moon Mission Ever

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Anna: Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Astronomy

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Daily. I'm Anna.

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Avery: And I'm avery. It's Monday, August 24th.

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Series 5 Episode 175

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Back to our

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Anna: regular weekday format after Saturday's

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weekend wrap. And it turns out one of the

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things we flagged as Watch this space over

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the weekend has already resolved. China's

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Chang' E7 launch. The one with the window

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opening today,

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Avery: the one that could have gone up literally

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this morning.

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Anna: Could have, didn't. We'll tell you why,

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and why the fix isn't as simple as just

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trying again tomorrow.

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Avery: Then a, uh, follow up on Thursday's big

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landspace story. Turns out sticking the

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landing wasn't quite the end of that one

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either.

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Anna: Plus, SpaceX quietly ticks over a

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big round number. And there's a comment worth

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pointing your binoculars at tonight. If the

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sky's clear, let's get into it.

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Avery: And kicking things off. So this is the

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mission we spent most of Saturday's episode

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on, the four vehicle hopper and lander

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expedition to Shackleton Crater. Where does

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it actually stand as of this morning?

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Anna: Grounded. At least for now. The launch window

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for Chang' E 7 opened today, August

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24, and ran through the 31st. And there

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was real momentum toward an early attempt.

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The rocket had already rolled out to the pad

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at wenchang on the 19th, but over the

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weekend a, uh, tropical system reported as

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tropical depression in some accounts.

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Tropical Storm Nara formed over the Gulf of

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Tonkin and threatened the launch site on

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Hainan island with exactly the kind of

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weather you don't fly a long March 5th

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through.

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Avery: So it's a straightforward weather scrub.

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Anna: Weather's the headline reason, but it's not

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the whole story. Chinese state media via

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Xinhua also pointed to what's been described

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as a broader safety and reliability review.

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As part of the decision, the official line

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was that the mission does not meet the launch

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conditions and cannot be carried out within

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the scheduled window. Full stop. No new date

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attached.

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Avery: No new date at all. That seems like a big

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mission to leave hanging.

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Anna: It's deliberate vagueness rather than an

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unknown, though. And this is the part that's

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actually the more interesting story here.

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You'd think we missed our window because of

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weather. Means try again in a few days once

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the storm clears. For most rockets, that's

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exactly right. Chang' E7 isn't most

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rockets.

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Avery: Why not?

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Anna: Because it's not just going to orbit. It's

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targeting a, uh, landing on the rim of

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Shackleton Crater right at the lunar south

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pole. And that site needs very specific

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sun angles for the landing to even be

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possible on top of the orbital geometry

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needed to get there in the first place.

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Independent trajectory analysis from the

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outlet China and space, cross referenced with

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the kind of orbital mechanics reasoning we've

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seen from other lunar polar missions, puts

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the next realistic opportunity at about a,

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uh, month out, sometime in the second half of

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September.

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Avery: A month for a few days of bad weather

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that feels disproportionate until you explain

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it properly.

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Anna: It does. And the reason is that polar lunar

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missions get much narrower, much less

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frequent windows than the equatorial missions

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China's flown before. You're not just waiting

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for the moon to be in the right place. You

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need the specific illumination geometry at

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Shackleton to line up too. And because the

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moon's roughly 18.6 year nodal

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cycle, that combination only recurs for

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about a week at a time, roughly once a month.

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And the geometry is gradually shifting as we

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head deeper into 2026 and

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2027.

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Avery: So miss this week and there genuinely isn't

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a just wait till Thursday option.

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Anna: Exactly. It's the trade off you accept for

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choosing the most scientifically interesting

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landing site on the moon instead of the

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easiest one.

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Avery: Any chance the cannot be carried out this

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year? Phrasing some outlets used actually

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means what it sounds like a delay into

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2027

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Anna: worth flagging because a couple of the wire

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summaries do use language that reads that way

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in translation. But the more detailed

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reporting we've seen, including the Thailand

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based National Astronomical Research

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Institute's comment that the next viable

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window is at the earliest about a month

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away, lines up with a September target,

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not a multi year slip. We'd read

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this year there as referring to this

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specific launch attempt inside

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2026's calendar of windows. Not a

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delay out of 2026 entirely.

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We'll keep tracking it and correct that if

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firmer reporting says otherwise.

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Avery: So, grounded by weather, kept grounded by

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orbital mechanics and probably back on the

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Anna: pad next month, that's where it stands.

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The mission itself hasn't changed. Still the

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hopper, still the ice hunt, still the most

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ambitious lunar mission ever attempted by any

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nation, per Brown University's James Head.

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It's just going to keep us waiting a little

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longer than we thought.

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Avery: On Saturday we did say to watch

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this space.

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Anna: We meant it more literally than expected.

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Avery: Alright, next one's a genuine.

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The rest of the story follow up Thursday we

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told you Landspace had stuck the landing on

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UK3's first stage. A, uh, big first for

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Chinese commercial spaceflight. New reporting

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fills in what happened right after the

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cameras stopped rolling.

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Anna: It does. And to be clear up front, the

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landing itself really did succeed. On

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August 19, Chu Ke 3's booster came down

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on all four legs roughly

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390km downrange in

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Gansu Province, close to dead center on

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its pad about eight minutes after liftoff

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from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation

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Pilot Zone. That part of the story stands

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exactly as we reported it.

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Avery: So what's new?

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Anna: What happened next? According to NASA

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Spaceflight's reporting, residual liquid

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methane and oxygen left in the booster

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ignited near its base shortly after

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touchdown, and the resulting fire damaged one

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of the four carbon fiber composite landing

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legs. That leg failed structurally and the

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booster toppled over.

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Avery: So the rocket that uh, just made history

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didn't survive the moment after making it.

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Anna: M. Right. And there's actually an added

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wrinkle on how big a first this was.

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NASA Spaceflight frames this as China's

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first successful land based recovery of

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orbital class booster using landing legs

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full stop across the entire country's launch

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industry, not just among private companies.

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That's a slightly bigger claim than the first

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private Chinese company framing we used

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Thursday because China's other recent booster

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recovery success, The Chong Zang 10B

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in July, used a net catch method at C

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rather than legs. Both framings are accurate,

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they're just measuring slightly different

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firsts.

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Avery: Does the fire undo, um, any of that?

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Anna: Not really. And this is worth sitting with

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for a second rather than just calling it bad

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news. A post landing fire that damages the

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vehicle is a, uh, genuinely different failure

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mode than crashing on the way down, which is

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exactly what happened to Q3's first flight

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back in December. The hard part, actually

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sticking a controlled propulsive landing on

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legs worked. What they lost afterwards is

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a refueling and inspection problem, not a

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guidance and control problem.

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Avery: Has, uh, this happened to anyone else?

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Anna: It has. And recently SpaceX's own

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Falcon 9 booster B1086

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suffered a very similar post landing fire on

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a drone ship back in March 2025. And

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it also toppled over. Nobody looks at that

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and says SpaceX doesn't know how to land

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rockets. It's part of the unglamorous back

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half of reusability. Venting, or safely

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burning off leftover propellant after

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touchdown is its own engineering problem

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separate from the landing itself. And it's

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one every methane fueled reusable booster

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program is still working through.

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Avery: So Landspace's own line from Thursday

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moving towards the engineering application

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phase of reusability still holds up.

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Anna: If anything, this is what that phase actually

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looks like. In practice, it's not. We've

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solved reusability. It's we solved

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the hardest 90% and now we're finding

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all the smaller problems that come with

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trying to make it routine. Expect post

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landing safing procedures to be exactly what

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landspace engineers are working on before the

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next flight.

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Avery: A real update, not a walk back.

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Anna: Exactly that.

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Finally, a quick one to round out the news

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Friday night, SpaceX flew its 100th

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Falcon rocket mission of the year.

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Avery: Hundred already with a third of the year

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stood to go.

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Anna: The launch itself was routine by SpaceX's

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standards. 27 Starlink satellites

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off a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force

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Base in California, deploying on schedule

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about 62 minutes after liftoff. The

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booster, flying its ninth mission, landed

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cleanly on a drone ship in the Pacific, but

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the number's the story. 99 of those

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100 launches this year have been Falcon

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9s, with the other a, uh, Falcon Heavy flight

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back in April.

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Avery: And Starlink's obviously doing a lot of the

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lifting there.

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Anna: 76 of the year's 99 Falcon

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9 flights have been dedicated Starlink

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missions, and the Constellation itself has

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now crossed 11,000 operational

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satellites in orbit. For comparison,

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SpaceX's full year record is

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165 launches set last year.

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So there's still real ground to cover before

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this year could challenge that. But triple

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digits by late August is still a serious

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cadence.

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Avery: No signs of easing off?

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Anna: None at all.

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Avery: Alright, what should people go look at

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tonight?

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Anna: Grab binoculars if you've got them, because

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Comet 220PMcNaught is doing

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something unusual. It's today's astronomy

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picture of the day, and for good reason. This

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periodic comet, which orbits the sun

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roughly every five years out between Mars and

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Jupiter, has gone through two separate

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outbursts this year, brightening by something

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like 20,000 times its normal level.

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Avery: 20,000 times? What does that actually mean

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for someone trying to spot it?

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Anna: Normally you'd need a telescope to see

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220p at all. Right now, thanks

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to the outburst, it's within reach of

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binoculars and photographs beautifully in

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long exposure shots. One of today's featured

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images was taken from South Africa, so it's

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a solidly southern hemisphere friendly target

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for anyone listening from down here.

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Avery: What are we actually looking at visually?

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Anna: A distinctive bright green head. That

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color comes from diatomic carmine molecules

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fluorescing in sunlight with a short dust

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tail trailing off. Nobody's actually certain

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what's causing the outbursts. The leading

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guesses are a sudden release of built up

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subsurface gas or something like a

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comet quake cracking open fresh icy

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material to the sunlight.

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Avery: How long does the window last, not forever.

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Anna: The comet expected to pass about one Earth

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sun distance from us in October, and

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brightness should drop off fairly quickly

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after that. So if you want to catch it near

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its best, the next few weeks are the time

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and, um, the bigger

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Avery: one on the calendar. That partial lunar

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eclipse we mentioned Friday

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Anna: still on for this week, the night of the 27th

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into the 28th, covering a full

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96% of the moon's face. About

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as close to total as a partial eclipse gets

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without crossing the line. We'll have full

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local viewing times as it gets closer, but

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it's worth penciling in now.

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Avery: A comet tonight, an almost total eclipse by

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the weekend. Good few days to keep looking

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up.

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Anna: That's the job.

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And that's it for Today's episode, episode

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175 of series five in the

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books.

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Avery: Quick recap. China's Chang' e 7 launch

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slips by about a month, thanks to weather and

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the Moon's unforgiving, um, polar landing

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geometry. Landspace's historic

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Z3 landing turns out to have ended in a post

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landing fire and tip over. SpaceX

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quietly notches its 100th launch of the

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year, and there's a binocular friendly comet

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and outburst tonight, plus an almost total

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lunar eclipse coming this week.

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Anna: If you enjoyed the show, the best thing you

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can do is tell a friend. Leave us a rating

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wherever you listen and follow us. Just

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search AstroDailyPod Daily Pod on your

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favorite platform. Full show notes and links

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are always up at astronomydaily IO

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and while there, take a moment to sign up for

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our daily Space and Astronomy News

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newsletter. It's free.

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Avery: We'll be back tomorrow with more from across

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the universe.

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Anna: Until then, keep looking up.

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Avery: See you next time. Clear skies, everyone.