China's About to Attempt the Most Ambitious Moon Mission Ever

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Anna: Hey everyone. Welcome back to Astronomy

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AstroDailyPod. And it's Saturday, so that

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means one thing.

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Avery: The weekend wrap today's news update. Then we

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run back to the week's biggest news. In case

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you missed any of it,

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Anna: it's Saturday, August 22nd. Series

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5 Episode 174

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and honestly, this might be the hardware

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heaviest week we've ever had to wrap up. A

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rocket recovered from the ocean, a rocket

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that hit the moon, a rocket that landed

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itself in China, and a rescue mission that

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didn' quite make it.

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Avery: Four spacecraft storeys, basically none of

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them simple. We're going to need the full

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recap today.

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Anna: But first, China's about to attempt what

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one lunar scientist is calling the most

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ambitious robotic lunar mission any

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nation has ever flown.

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Avery: And it's not some far off someday mission.

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The rocket's already on the pad.

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Anna: Let's get into it.

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Avery: Okay. Most ambitious lunar mission ever

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attempted by any nation is a big claim.

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Who's saying that?

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Anna: James Head, a, uh, planetary scientist at

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Brown University who's been studying the moon

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since Apollo. So it's not marketing copy,

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it's a genuine expert assessment. His exact

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quote, Chang' E7 is the most

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ambitious, comprehensive and complex

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robotic lunar mission any nation or

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entity has ever attempted.

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Avery: So what is it and um, when's it actually

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going?

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Anna: China's Chang' e 7 mission rolled its

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long March 5 rocket out to the pad at

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Wencheng on Hainan island on August

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19. A two and three quarter kilometre

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crawl from the assembly building. The launch

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window opens Monday, August 24th and

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runs through the 31st. So this could go up

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any day in that stretch? Potentially as soon

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as Monday morning China time.

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Avery: So by the time next week's episodes air, this

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thing could already be on its way?

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Anna: Very possibly. And once it launches, it's

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roughly six to eight days to reach lunar

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orbit, then a couple of months of mapping and

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prep work before the lander actually touches

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down. Which they're targeting for around the

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end of the year.

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Avery: Where's it landing?

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Anna: Right on the rim of Shackleton Crater at the

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lunar south pole. A 21 kilometre

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wide crater whose interior never sees

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sunlight. That's the whole point of this

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mission. Water ice.

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Avery: We've talked about lunar water ice before.

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Isn't that already a settled question?

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Anna: Genuinely not. And that's the part people get

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wrong. Planetary scientist Norbert

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Schorkhofer put it plainly. There has never

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been a landed mission to find water on the

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moon. We've got decades of orbital and remote

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evidence, hydrogen signatures, permanently

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shadowed regions that are cold enough to trap

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ice but nobody has actually landed at the

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South Pole and directly confirmed it,

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measured how deep it is or worked out whether

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it's accessible enough to actually use.

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Avery: And that's what makes it, uh, the most

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ambitious one. It's not just one lander, it's

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a whole toolkit for answering that specific

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question.

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Anna: Exactly. Four separate vehicles working

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together. There's an orbiter which does

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communications relay and mapping support and

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sticks around for years. There's a lander

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built for up to eight years of surface

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operations. There's a rover kitted out with

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cameras, ground penetrating radar and soil

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analysis gear. And then there's the one

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everyone's actually excited about, a six

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legged hopper.

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Avery: A hopper, as in it jumps, as

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in it jumps.

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Anna: Using its own rocket thrusters, it can leap

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up to 15 kilometres across the surface in

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a single bound. That makes it only the second

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multi flight vehicle to ever operate on

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another world, after NASA's Ingenuity

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helicopter on Mars.

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Avery: Why do you need something that hops instead

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of just driving down into the crater?

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Anna: Because you genuinely can't drive into

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Shackleton Crater. The walls are brutally

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steep and the interior is in permanent

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darkness with no solar power and temperatures

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cold to make wheeled exploration essentially

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impossible. A hopper can leap in,

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use its own systems to survive the dark for a

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short window, drill for ice with an onboard

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probe and leap back out. It's the only

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realistic way to physically sample the

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coldest, most permanently shadowed parts of

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that crater.

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Avery: That's a genuinely clever engineering answer

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to a nasty problem.

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Anna: It is. And Chang' e 7 isn't going

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it alone either. This is a heavily

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international mission. It's carrying

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instruments from Russia, Italy, Thailand,

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Switzerland, Bahrain and Egypt, plus a

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small US linked payload, a 1.5

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kilogramme telescope built by the University

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of Hong Kong with the International Lunar

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Observatory association. Designed to capture

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panoramic images of the Milky Way from the

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lunar surface.

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Avery: A telescope riding along on a Chinese moon

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lander with an American research partnership

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attached. That's not the geopolitical picture

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most people have in their head of the current

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moon race.

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Anna: It's more collaborative at the instrument

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level than the headlines usually suggest.

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Even while the two countries crewed

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programmes are very much racing each other,

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which is worth mentioning, this mission sits

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inside a much bigger plan. Changa

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E8 follows around 2028 to test

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habitat building technology. And China's

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stated goal is a crewed lunar landing by

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2030.

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Avery: Same um, target window NASA's chasing with

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Artemis.

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Anna: Same window and water ice is exactly why

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both programmes care so much about the South

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Pole. Specifically if there's accessible ice

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down there, that's drinking water, breathable

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oxygen and rocket propellant without hauling

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it up from Earth. Whichever programme nails

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down the real answer first has a serious head

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start on actually building something that

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stays.

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Avery: So this isn't really a did they find ice yes

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or no storey yet?

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Anna: Not yet. That's still months away after

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landing. Right now this is a watch the

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launch window storey. But given what's riding

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on the answer, and given that nobody's ever

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tried anything quite like this hopper drill

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combination before, this is very much a

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mission worth having on your radar. Starting

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Monday.

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Avery: Rocket's literally on the pad. We'll be

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watching.

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Anna: Alright, onto the recap. And like we said up

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top, this was a genuinely stacked week for

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hardware. Let's go roughly in the order it

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happened.

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Avery: Thory won. And it's actually had two

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chapters just this week. Quick reset. For

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anyone who missed the earlier saga, this goes

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back to Flight 13 on July 24, when

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Starship's upper stage ship 40 did

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something no starship had ever done. Survived

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the soft splashdown in the Indian Ocean off

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Western Australia completely intact,

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which

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Anna: kicked off a genuinely dramatic recovery

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effort. Covessles battling rough seas for

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weeks. Elon Musk saying on August 7 that ship

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recovery is not looking good right now.

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Prediction markets giving it about an 18%

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chance of ever making it to shore.

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Avery: And then, um, Tuesday we told you had

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actually worked. Recovery vessels got ship 40

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secured and towed toward Western Australia.

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Anna: We did, and that was accurate as far as it

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went. But the fuller picture that emerged the

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very next day was that recover didn't mean

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home. What actually happened is ship 40 was

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towed much further than first reported,

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arriving on August 18th in sheltered waters

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off Christmas island out in the eastern

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Indian Ocean after 24 days adrift and

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more than 400 kilometres of drift in total.

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Avery: So not a mainland port, a, uh, calmer spot to

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regroup.

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Anna: Exactly that. SpaceX set up a 500

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metre exclusion zone around it and sent

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engineers out to do a proper close up

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inspection before figuring out the next leg.

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Getting a 170 foot stainless steel

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rocket all the way back to Starbase in Texas.

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Avery: And um, how's that going a few

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Anna: days on, still unresolved. Genuinely.

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As of the most recent reporting, ship 40 is

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still sitting off Christmas island and

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nobody's actually announced how they're going

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to move it. One detail that puts the scale of

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the problem in perspective. Getting it back

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to Texas by sea at the pace it's been moving

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so far would take over a year. So

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they're clearly going to need a different

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method, whether that's a faster ship, an

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alternate route, or something else entirely.

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And SpaceX hasn't said yet.

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Avery: What does the intact recovery actually buy

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them beyond bragging rights?

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Anna: Real engineering value, Close up hands on

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inspection of the heat shield and engine

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sections instead of just working from drone

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photos, Busk has said it strengthens the case

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for eventually catching a returning ship with

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the launch tower's arms the way boosters

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already get caught.

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Avery: Speaking of which, there's actually a fresh

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update on that specific plan this week too.

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Anna: There is, and it's a bit of a step back from

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where things stood a couple of weeks ago.

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Back on August 4th, on UM, SpaceX's first

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earnings call as a public company, Musk

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sounded optimistic that they'd attempt the

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tower catch on Flight 14, which was

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tentatively pencilled in for the end of

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August. But on August 20th he posted

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that we will probably catch the ship with the

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tower in a few months, though that specific

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milestone has slipped.

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Avery: Any word on why the reporting points

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Anna: to regulatory sign off rather than a

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technical setback. A tower catch of the ship

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needs its own FAA approval separate from the

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booster catches. SpaceX already has clearance

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for Flight 14 itself is still very

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much happening now, targeted no earlier than

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August 28, and it's still a big deal in its

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own right. Musk says Starship will go fully

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orbital on that flight for the first time

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ever. The catch attempt is just being

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decoupled from it.

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Avery: So ship recovered, sort of still

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marooned off an island transport plan

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unknown and the next big milestone got its

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own ass. *2 this one keeps giving us

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corrections, it really does.

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Anna: We'll keep tracking it properly this time.

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Avery: Storey 2 and this is a much cleaner win.

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Thursday's main storey in case you're

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catching up, China's private space sector

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landed an orbital class rocket booster for

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the first time.

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Anna: The company is Land Space, founded back in

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2015, and the rocket is Zhuque

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3. Stainless steel construction,

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methane fueled and at 76.6

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metres, actually taller than a Falcon 9.

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Their first flight back in December reached

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orbit successfully, but the landing attempt

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ended in a fireball. The booster lost an

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engine during its landing burn and came down

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hard, even though it hit remarkably close to

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its target zone.

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Avery: So this was a do over.

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Anna: This was the do over. And on August 19th

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they nailed it. Liftoff from the Dongfeng

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Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in

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northwestern China, and about eight minutes

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later the first stage came down on four legs,

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roughly 390 kilometres

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downrange in Ganshu Province landing

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close to dead centre on its pad.

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Avery: First time. Any private Chinese companies

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pulled that off.

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Anna: First time. And Landspace themselves are

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framing it as the shift towards the

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engineering application phase of reusability.

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In other words, the step from can this work

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at all? To how do we make this routine?

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It puts them on a genuinely short list of

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organisations on Earth that have landed an

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orbital class booster. And it's the clearest

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sign yet that China's commercial launch

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sector, not just the state programme, is

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closing in on the reusability playbook that

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made SpaceX what it is today.

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Avery: Good news for anyone hoping launch prices

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keep coming down.

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Anna: Competition's good for that. This is one to

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watch.

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Avery: Storey 3, from Friday's episode. The case of

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the SpaceX rocket stage that hit the moon

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finally got closed.

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Anna: Right. On August 5th, a, uh, spent Falcon 9

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upper stage, long dead and uncontrolled,

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struck the lunar surface. This wasn't SpaceX

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aiming for anything. It's leftover hardware

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whose orbit had finally decayed enough to

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come down. What made it a storey worth

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following is that astronomers had tracked it

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well enough in advance to predict roughly

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where and when it would hit.

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Avery: And, um, this week we found out exactly how

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good that prediction was.

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Anna: Genuinely impressive. NASA's Centre for Near

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Earth Object Studies refined the tracking

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data and passed coordinates to South Korea's

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Danuri Orbiter, which imaged the site within

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hours and nailed the location to within about

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six tenths of a mile. NASA's Lunar

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Reconnaissance Orbiter then got its own

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detailed images on August 11th and 12th,

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which is the full analysis that came out this

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week.

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Avery: What does the crater actually look like?

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Anna: Modest, about 60ft wide, less than 10ft

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deep. But the useful part is the ejecta

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rays. Darker streaks made of older space,

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weathered material dug up from about a foot

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and a half down, and brighter streaks of

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completely fresh material excavated from

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deeper still. Together, that's a free cross

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section of the lunar soil at two different

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depths, which helps scientists calibrate

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exactly how fast the moon's surface actually

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weathers over time.

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Avery: Um, an accidental science instrument.

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Anna: Exactly that. For the record, the coordinates

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are 19.4759 degrees

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north, 266.7138

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degrees east. A small, permanent,

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uninvited addition to the Moon.

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Avery: And Storey four, also from Friday, and the

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toughest one of the week, the rescue attempt

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for NASA's Swift observatory has failed.

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Anna: Swift's been watching gamma ray bursts since

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2004, but it's been losing altitude

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faster than expected because of heightened

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solar activity puffing up the atmosphere. And

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adding drag without help, it was heading for

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an uncontrolled re entry before year's end.

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So NASA gambled on a fast turnaround fix.

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A, uh, $30 million contract with Arizona's

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Catalyst Space Technologies to build a

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dedicated rescue craft called Link and

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dock with Swift to boost it to safety.

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Avery: Built and launched in under a year, if I

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remember right.

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Anna: Under a year designed to launch, link

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went up July 3rd on a Northrop Grumman

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Pegasus XL rocket, and for about three weeks

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it was tracking towards an actual rendezvous.

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Then Link itself developed an attitude

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control failure. Two of its three reaction

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wheels stopped working and its thruster

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system malfunctioned, sending it spinning

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uncontrollably. A software patch clawed

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back partial control, but not enough for a

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safe capture attempt. NASA made the failure

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official on August 19th.

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Avery: So Swift's fate is sealed.

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Anna: It is uncontrolled reentry

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sometime later this year, with early

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reporting suggesting not before October.

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Though NASA hasn't committed to a firm date

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or said anything about where debris might

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come down. And there's no second rescue

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attempt planned, NASA administrator Jared

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Isaacman's line on it was about as honest as

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it gets. This is not the outcome we were

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working toward, but it does not change why

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this mission was worth attempting.

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Avery: Any silver lining at all.

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Anna: A, uh, small one. Link is still going to

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attempt a close flyby of Swift just to gather

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proximity operations data that'll help

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whoever attempts the next satellite rescue

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mission. Satellite servicing is still a

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genuinely new capability. Nobody's got down

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to routine yet, so even a failed attempt

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teaches the next team something. Small

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comfort for a telescope that's about to

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become a very expensive shooting star. But

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not nothing.

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Avery: A uh, rough note to end the week's recap on,

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but an honest one.

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Anna: That's the job, even when the news isn't

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great.

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Avery: Okay, that's the weekend wrap. China's Chang'

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E7 about to attempt the most ambitious moon

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mission any nation's ever flown. Plus a big

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week catching up on Starship's ship 40, still

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marooned off Christmas island with its

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transport plan. Unresolved landspace becoming

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the first private Chinese company to land an

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orbital class booster. NASA pinpointing

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exactly where a Falcon nine hit the moon. And

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the rescue mission for NASA Swift Observatory

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coming up short.

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Anna: A ah, genuinely massive week for hardware and

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hopefully a useful way to catch up if you

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missed any of it as it happened.

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Avery: If you enjoyed today's episode, the best

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thing you can do for us is leave a rating or

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review wherever you're listening and share it

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with a fellow space nerd. Full shown outs,

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sources and links for every storey we covered

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today are @astronomydaily IO and you

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can find us on social media. We're astrodaily

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pod pretty much everywhere.

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Anna: We'll be back Monday with our regular weekday

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format. Until then, keep looking up.

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Avery: See you then. Clear skies, everyone.