Moon Monday #287: Mission updates from China, the US, Europe, and Japan

Before we begin, I’m thrilled to share that Open Lunar Foundation is continuing as a sponsor of my Moon Monday blog+newsletter for the sixth year! 🌕Open Lunar is a US-based non-profit organization with a global team that develops bottom-up tools of lunar governance to enable and promote cooperative, peaceful, and sustainable exploration of our Moon by all countries.Disclaimer for transparency: I aid Open Lunar’s work with technical communications, and have newly joined their Lunar Ledger project as a global missions data contractor. Open Lunar’s sponsorship, just like that of all other supporters, abides by my public Editorial Independence Policy with zero exceptions. Particularly, this has included and will continue to include stating about them being a sponsor in parentheses every single time I mention their work in my coverage or writing.Mission updatesA render of the Chang’e 7 lander and orbiter going around the Moon. Image: CMGChina’s Chang’e 7 mission to systematically study…