China’s National Space Administration has announced five space missions for 2026, including lunar exploration, asteroid sample collection, crewed space station operations, spacecraft testing, and a space telescope launch.
The Chang’e-7 robotic mission will launch in August 2026, targeting the Moon’s south pole with an orbiter, lander, rover, and a mini-hopping probe. The mission will land at a permanently illuminated peak near Shackleton crater as it seeks water ice deposits and geological features.
The Tianwen-2 probe, launched in May 2025, is scheduled to reach asteroid 2016 HO3 in July 2026. This mission will attempt to collect approximately 100 grams of material using three sampling methods, with samples returning to Earth in November 2027. The spacecraft will then continue to comet 311P/PANSTARRS, arriving in 2034.
China will maintain a continuous human presence aboard its Tiangong space station with the Shenzhou-23 and Shenzhou-24 crewed missions in 2026. One crew member from the Shenzhou-22 mission will undertake a residence trial exceeding one year. The uncrewed test flight of the Mengzhou-1 spacecraft is scheduled for mid-2026, introducing China’s next-generation crewed vehicle intended for future lunar missions.
The Xuntian space telescope is planned for launch in late 2026 aboard a Long March 5B rocket. It will co-orbit with the Tiangong space station, enabling astronaut servicing and upgrades. Xuntian features a 2-meter primary mirror and a field of view more than 300 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope, and will conduct large-scale sky surveys, study galaxies, search for exoplanets, and map cosmic structures.
