China and United Arab Emirates agree on joint lunar rover mission

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China and the United Arab Emirates have agreed on a joint mission to the moon in 2026. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China has agreed to partner with the United Arab Emirates in an unmanned landing mission to the moon, with the two countries’ space agencies signing a pact in Dubai last week.
The unique Chinese mission to the moon’s southern polar region will deliver a hopping device that can move in and out of a crater’s permanently shadowed area, seeking evidence of water.
According to the China National Space Administration, the probe will be the first of its kind, able to repeatedly take off, touch down and fly over a certain distance on the lunar surface – moving across a wider area with greater mobility than a land rover.
The probe can be fully charged by solar energy in areas exposed to sunlight, like crater rims. It can then hop to the shadowy bottom of craters, which may hold reserves of water in the form of ice – a vital resource for long-term human lunar habitation.

A “lunar hopper” that can take off, touch down and fly over limited distances on the lunar surface, will be part of the Chang’e 7 mission. Photo: SCMP
Chinese engineers were still working on the probe in March, according to China Daily.


The spider-like detector will be equipped with four or six legs and an instrument called a water molecule analyser, for measuring the content of water ice, organic molecules and hydrogen isotopes in lunar soils.
The UAE’s Rashid 2 rover, under development at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, will ride aboard China’s Chang’e 7 mission, expected to launch in late 2026.

China will also provide data transmission and monitoring services for Rashid 2, and the two agencies will share scientific results, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by the centre and the CNSA.


China has already partnered with Saudi Arabia. The Chang’e 4 lunar “far side” mission in 2018 carried a Saudi camera to observe the moon and take images of the Earth and moon.
In addition to the lunar hop and Rashid 2, the Chang’e 7 mission consists of an orbiter, lander, rover and relay satellite which will operate in a highly elliptical lunar orbit to facilitate communications with earth.

In all, Chang’e 7 will carry more than a dozen instruments expected to operate for at least eight years on the moon, laying foundations for construction of an international lunar research station.

Before the Chang’e 7 mission, China plans to send the Chang’e 6 mission in 2024 to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon, a first in lunar exploration.

China and the United Arab Emirates have agreed on a joint mission to the moon in 2026. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China has agreed to partner with the United Arab Emirates in an unmanned landing mission to the moon, with the two countries’ space agencies signing a pact in Dubai last week.
The unique Chinese mission to the moon’s southern polar region will deliver a hopping device that can move in and out of a crater’s permanently shadowed area, seeking evidence of water.
According to the China National Space Administration, the probe will be the first of its kind, able to repeatedly take off, touch down and fly over a certain distance on the lunar surface – moving across a wider area with greater mobility than a land rover.
The probe can be fully charged by solar energy in areas exposed to sunlight, like crater rims. It can then hop to the shadowy bottom of craters, which may hold reserves of water in the form of ice – a vital resource for long-term human lunar habitation.

A “lunar hopper” that can take off, touch down and fly over limited distances on the lunar surface, will be part of the Chang’e 7 mission. Photo: SCMP
Chinese engineers were still working on the probe in March, according to China Daily.


The spider-like detector will be equipped with four or six legs and an instrument called a water molecule analyser, for measuring the content of water ice, organic molecules and hydrogen isotopes in lunar soils.
The UAE’s Rashid 2 rover, under development at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in Dubai, will ride aboard China’s Chang’e 7 mission, expected to launch in late 2026.

China will also provide data transmission and monitoring services for Rashid 2, and the two agencies will share scientific results, according to a memorandum of understanding signed by the centre and the CNSA.

China has already partnered with Saudi Arabia. The Chang’e 4 lunar “far side” mission in 2018 carried a Saudi camera to observe the moon and take images of the Earth and moon.
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In addition to the lunar hop and Rashid 2, the Chang’e 7 mission consists of an orbiter, lander, rover and relay satellite which will operate in a highly elliptical lunar orbit to facilitate communications with earth.

In all, Chang’e 7 will carry more than a dozen instruments expected to operate for at least eight years on the moon, laying foundations for construction of an international lunar research station.

Before the Chang’e 7 mission, China plans to send the Chang’e 6 mission in 2024 to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon, a first in lunar exploration.



The UAE is set to launch its first moon rover, Rashid, in November from the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida. The Rashid will be released onto the lunar surface by a Japanese lander.

If successful, the UAE and Japan will join the US, Russia and China as countries to have landed a spacecraft on the moon’s surface.

China and United Arab Emirates agree on joint lunar mission

China’s Chang’e 7 mission, scheduled for 2026, plans to deliver the UAE’s Rashid 2 rover to the surface of the moon’s southern polar region.

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