China Delays Ambitious Chang'e 7 Lunar Mission Until 2027 (scientificamerican.com) 16
China has delayed its ambitious Chang'e 7 lunar mission until at least 2027 after scrubbing an August 24 launch. Poor weather conditions were likely a factor, with China's Manned Space Agency (CMSA) saying the decision reflects the need for "absolute safety." Scientific American reports: China and the U.S. are in a race to send humans back to the moon, a feat that that U.S. accomplished in the 1960s and that has never been achieved by any other country. Chang'e 7 is to play to a crucial part in China's ambitions: the probe is designed to search for frozen water in the Shackleton Crater, a pit that spans some 21 kilometers (13 miles) and sits beside the lunar south pole.
No spacecraft has ever landed in that region, which scientists consider to be among the likeliest places to find water on the moon. Locating water that can be used by humans is vital to establishing any long-term lunar presence. NASA and China are eyeing the region to establish a crewed base -- and because this real estate is so precious, it matters who gets their first. Ars Technica notes in its reporting that the delayed launch was "most likely" due to Typhoon Narra, "which has 45 mph winds (equivalent to a moderate Tropical Storm) and continues to meander around in the waterway separating Hainan Island, where the spaceport is located, and mainland China."
As for why the next launch window won't open until next February or March? "It likely is a combination of factors, including sunlight conditions in polar landing zones as well as the mission plan that requires a 90-day lunar orbit reconnaissance before landing," reports Ars. There's also a possibility, albeit an unlikely one, that "some technical issue was discovered at the last minute with either the complex Chang'e 7 payload, or the rocket."
No spacecraft has ever landed in that region, which scientists consider to be among the likeliest places to find water on the moon. Locating water that can be used by humans is vital to establishing any long-term lunar presence. NASA and China are eyeing the region to establish a crewed base -- and because this real estate is so precious, it matters who gets their first. Ars Technica notes in its reporting that the delayed launch was "most likely" due to Typhoon Narra, "which has 45 mph winds (equivalent to a moderate Tropical Storm) and continues to meander around in the waterway separating Hainan Island, where the spaceport is located, and mainland China."
As for why the next launch window won't open until next February or March? "It likely is a combination of factors, including sunlight conditions in polar landing zones as well as the mission plan that requires a 90-day lunar orbit reconnaissance before landing," reports Ars. There's also a possibility, albeit an unlikely one, that "some technical issue was discovered at the last minute with either the complex Chang'e 7 payload, or the rocket."
Psych (Score:1)
Psych, blitches.
A year's delay? (Score:2)
For weather?
And lighting on the moon.
Really?
Re:A year's delay? (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, really. The moon's orientation with respect to the Sun in its orbit around us is a thing. And it can take months for a launch-window to re-open for their mission. About six, per TFS. (Next February or March.) So not a year.
Re:A year's delay? (Score:5, Insightful)
A year's delay?
It's August 24th right now. "February or March" is around 5 months away. Which is not a year.
For weather?
Due to weather, yes, plausibly. This is literally rocket science and weather can absolutely merit a scrub.
And lighting on the moon.
Again, this is rocket science. The rocket scientists seem to think that visible light is somehow helpful to the landing's odds of success. It passes the sniff test to me; voluntarily sacrificing such a useful spectrum seems unwise to me.
Really?
Indeed, yes. Do you have some grounds for your doubt?
Re: (Score:3)
Because nobody ever scrubbed a launch for weather before? Happens all the time.
And yes, lighting on the moon is a problem. If you don't have sunlight, you have NO light. And no heat - in permanently shaded craters you're below -200C.
Seems like that might be a harsh operating environment for anything that moves, and any chemical processes in a battery.
Year of the horse (Score:2)
Well, it's the year of the Horse in China, specifically the Fire Horse. Better to wait for the year of the Fire Goat and ram it to the west.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
It was never done or operational in any way. You don't see that it's raining and say screw it, let's do it in 2027.
You know, it may very well be a cover for a technical problem. But a weather delay that causes you to slip out of a launch window is a tenable argument for not launching until early next year. And tropical-storm-level winds at 45 mph are not just them saying "it's raining."
Re: (Score:2)
There isn't any reason for them to rush. They are on track, and the manned missions aren't affected by the delay. They certainly would be affected if it failed though, as they would need to build new hardware and repeat the mission to find a suitable landing spot.
moonligans (Score:2)
the comical angle of this bigotry outburst is that they said no such thing, they didn't give any specific reason at all so they could hardly be "lying". that's the logical assumption ars technica reached because anyone following launches knows about launch windows and the importance of weather conditions, and there happens to be a nice fat typhoon around.
but why let reading and basic reasoning get in the way, right? know what? i don't really care who gets first base on the moon but ... china will :-P not on
Who gets there first? (Score:2)
Who cares? 21 km across is pretty big. At the scale that humans will ever realistically be able to build anything on the moon, we probably wouldn't even know the other country was there at all. No country is ever going to colonize the moon, or Mars. Or anywhere else. The most inhospitable place on Earth is better than everywhere else in the solar system, never mind the logistics.
I mean, the science is cool, but that's all it's ever going to be.
90 days? (Score:2)
Is that a type-o? did they mean 90 hours? I can't believe they'd send their astronauts to orbit the moon for three months?
Re:90 days? (Score:5, Informative)
No silly wabbit. This is an unmanned mission. 90 days (yes, days) of reconaissance are included in the plan, before a landing is attempted.