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| Attribute | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | SpaceX | ispace | CNSA |
| Prime contractor | SpaceX | ispace | China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) |
| Status | In development | Lost | In development |
| Customer | NASA-HLS | private | CNSA |
| Launch date | 2027 (NET — Artemis III) | 2022-12-11 | 2026-08 (NET) |
| Landing date | — | 2023-04-25 | — |
| Landing site | Lunar south pole (NASA-curated candidate region near 84-90°S) | Atlas crater, Mare Frigoris (planned; impacted at altitude ~5 km) | Shackleton crater illuminated rim, lunar south pole |
| Payload | ~100 tonnes to lunar surface (sustained variant target) (2024-04-16) | Rashid rover (10 kg, UAE/MBRSC) + Sora-Q (0.25 kg, JAXA) + commercial (2023-04-25) | 18 science payloads across orbiter, lander, rover, mini-hopper, and Queqiao-2 (2026-05-28) |
| Contract value | $2.89B + $1.15B Option B = $4.04B total (2022-11-15) | — | — |
| Outcome | Selected April 2021 as sole HLS provider for Artemis III. Architecture requires Super Heavy launch + multiple Starship tanker refueling flights in LEO + transit to NRHO + rendezvous with Orion (SLS). NASA OIG IG-26-004 (March 2026) flagged crew-rescue capability as open risk. October 2025: NASA acting administrator Sean Duffy reopened Artemis III lander contract to competition due to Starship development pace. | Travelled ~1.4M km — at the time, furthest a privately funded spacecraft had flown. Software flagged the radar altimeter as faulty after the lander crossed a crater rim cliff and ignored its readings. Lander ran out of fuel hovering ~5 km above surface and free-fell. | 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. |
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Underlying dataset: GET /api/moon/landers. Methodology: /moon/methodology.