China's Chang'e-7 lunar mission postponed due to poor weather
The main reason for the delay was poor weather due to Tropical Depression Narra in the Gulf of Tonkin, Space.com reported.
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A Long March-5 rocket carrying the Chang'e-6 spacecraft blasts off from its launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province. The next planned mission, the Chang'e-7, was postponed due to poor weather. (Photo Credit: Guo Cheng/Xinhua/EPA)
Aug. 23 (UPI) -- China's space agency on Sunday postponed the launch of an ambitious mission to search the south pole of the moon for ice due to poor weather.
The robotic lunar probe Chang'e-7 had been slated to take off on Sunday night but failed to meet launch conditions, the China Manned Space Agency said.
The agency added an "assessment was conducted following the principle of prudence, reliability and absolute mission success," Xinhua reported.
The main reason for the delay was poor weather due to Tropical Depression Narra in the Gulf of Tonkin, Space.com reported.
Officials had at first pushed the launch back by a day, the news outlet reported. Now, it is unclear when the launch will happen.
The Chang'e-7 mission would have been the first in history to probe ice on the moon's south pole.
"It looks like an incredibly capable and ambitious mission with multiple scientific components on the orbiter, lander, rover and hopper," Katherine Joy, a professor at the University of Manchester, told SpaceNews. "There is a potential for a huge science return if the mission can successfully land at its intended landing site close to Shackleton crater."
Joy, who studies lunar and planetary science, added the mission would represent "a really important step for understanding the future human exploration potential of the south pole of the moon, and for investigating the origins of lunar volatiles."
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