Pick up to 4 vehicles to compare side-by-side. State lives in the URL — share the link and the comparison loads exactly as you left it. No JavaScript required.
| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | CNSA | CNSA | Astrobotic |
| Prime contractor | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) | Astrobotic |
| Status | In development | Landed | Lost |
| Customer | CNSA | CNSA | NASA-CLPS |
| Launch date | 2026-08 (NET) | 2024-05-03 | 2024-01-08 |
| Landing date | — | 2024-06-01 | — |
| Landing site | Shackleton crater illuminated rim, lunar south pole | Apollo crater, South Pole-Aitken Basin (lunar far side) | Sinus Viscositatis (planned; never reached) |
| Payload | 18 science payloads across orbiter, lander, rover, mini-hopper, and Queqiao-2 (2026-05-28) | 1,935.3 g of lunar far-side regolith returned to Earth (2024-06-25) | 20 payloads from 7 nations (2024-01-08) |
| Contract value | — | — | $108M (2024-01-08) |
| Outcome | China's first dedicated lunar south-pole prospecting mission. Mini-flying probe hops into permanently shadowed regions to sample for water-ice volatiles. Italian laser retroreflector aboard the lander. | First-ever sample return from the lunar far side and the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite for far-side comms. Samples revealed unexpectedly cohesive grain behavior and excavated material from the Moon's mantle. | Maiden flight of ULA's Vulcan Centaur. Helium pressurant valve failed to reseal post-actuation, over-pressurizing the oxidizer tank and rupturing it. Lander commanded into controlled re-entry; burned up over South Pacific 2024-01-18. |
Pure URL state — no JavaScript, no localStorage, no cookies. The comparison renders entirely on the server from the slugs in the query string. Bookmark or share the URL and the comparison reproduces exactly.
Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.