Chinese Lunar Exploration Program

The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP; Chinese: 中国探月工程; pinyin: Zhōngguó Tànyuè Gōngchéng), also known as the Chang'e Project (Chinese: 嫦娥工程; pinyin: Cháng'é Gōngchéng) after the Chinese Moon goddess Chang'e, is the first and ongoing series of roboticMoon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), part of the Chinese space program.

Chang'e 1 (2007) and Chang'e 2 (2010) orbited the Moon, surveying potential landing sites. Chang'e 3 (2013) deployed China's first lander and rover, Yutu. Chang'e 4 (2019) made the world's first landing on the far side of the Moon; its Yutu-2 became the longest-lived lunar rover. Chang'e 5 (2020) provided the world's first lunar sample return since Luna 24 in 1974, also conducting the first robotic lunar orbit docking. Chang'e 6 (2024) retrieved the first ever lunar far side samples.

Support missions include Queqiao-1 (2018) and Queqiao-2 (2024), communications satellites in halo and frozen orbits respectively, for coverage of the far side and lunar south pole. Chang'e 5-T1 (2014) tested the reentry capsule and docking technology needed for sample returns. Larger payloads from Chang'e 5 onwards use the heavy lift Long March 5 rocket; the Chang'e 3 and 4 landers used the Long March 3B.

China plans Chang'e 7 (late 2026) and Chang'e 8 (2028), which will explore the lunar south pole for ice, using multi-landing flying probes; the latter will test in situ resource utilization. China plans a crewed lunar landing in 2029 or 2030, using the Mengzhou orbiter and Lanyue lander, each launched by a super heavy-liftLong March 10 rocket. China aims to construct the International Lunar Research Station at the lunar south pole from 2031, collaborating with Roscosmos and 11 other countries. The Long March 9 super heavy-lifter is planned for this construction. The program previously saw collaboration with the European Space Agency on deep space telemetry and scientific payloads.