Chang'e 8 Mission to Deliver Pakistani Lunar Rover
Ahead of launch in 2028, Pakistan is the newest addition to the lunar south pole exploration mission.
Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari (آصف علي زرداري) is in China this week to meet with President Xi Jinping (习近平) to expand the economic corridor between the two nations, strengthen bilateral ties, and to attend the opening ceremony of the Ninth Asian Winter Games, in Harbin (哈尔滨市) in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang (黑龙江).
Additionally, in the presence of both Presidents, Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, often shortened to SUPARCO, and the China National Space Administration signed a Memorandum of Understanding. With the signing of the memorandum the Chang’e 8 mission, currently set for 2028, will deliver Pakistan’s first lunar rover to the surface of the Moon’s south pole, having announced the rover back in November 2024.
This lunar rover is set to be made of indigenously developed components and carry an international payload developed by Chinese and European scientists. On the surface, Pakistan’s rover will study lunar soil composition for future resource utilization, measure radiation levels ahead of more ambitious missions, and map areas of the Moon.
After being released from the Chang’e 8 lander the rover will weigh approximately 35 kilograms. Pakistani scientists will control the rover’s operations on the Moon, with communications maintained by the Chang’e 8 lander and the Queqiao relay satellites.
Speaking about space collaboration between the two nations back in November, SUPARCO stated:
“[The] collaboration marks a significant milestone for Pakistan’s space program, as SUPARCO’s indigenous rover will be part of the mission to explore the lunar surface.” — “This collaboration with China highlights the strong bilateral relations between the two countries and their shared vision for space exploration”
The rover from Pakistan is the latest independently operating spacecraft for use on the Moon being delivered by the Chang’e 8 mission. Earlier this month STAR.VISION, Zhejiang University (浙江大学), and the Middle East Technical University (Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi) announced that they were contributing two five-kilogram micro-exploration robots, while Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (香港科技大學) announced that they would lead the development of a 100-kilogram multi-functional robot in mid-December 2024. Another rover based on the two Yutu rovers will also be part of the mission for analyzing lunar minerals and storing samples it gathers.
Previously, Pakistan has contributed to the Chang’e 6 mission with the ICUBE-Q lunar orbiting satellite to image the lunar surface, research the Moon’s magnetic field, and to study the feasibility of using CubeSats for deep space exploration.
Along with being part of the Chang’e 6 and Chang’e 8 missions, Pakistan is also a member of the International Lunar Research Station, a China-led initiative for a collaborative scientific base on the Moon, having joined the project in October 2023. China frequently collaborates with Pakistan in space, with Long March rockets also regularly delivering Pakistani satellites into orbit, with the latest having blasted off in mid-January.