China is running its Space Lab alone and is not part of the International Project that currently maintains the International Space Station (ISS). China will seek to establish an international lunar base one day, possibly using 3d printing technology to build facilities, the Chinese space agency released video of the lander’s far side. “The future launches will culminate with a mission to test equipment for an International Moon Research Base”, Wu Yanhua, deputy chief commander of China’s Lunar Exploration Programme, said at a press briefing. “The Chang’e-5 probe, originally scheduled to collect moon samples in the second half of 2017, will launch by the end of the year”, Wu said. Following that mission, China will launch Chang’e-6 with the goal of bringing back samples from the lunar south pole. James Oberg, a veteran of the US space programme and an authority on manned space flight, says China is unlikely to send astronauts to the Moon.
Chinese astronauts or “taikonauts” and are undergoing training. Chinese officials have outlined plans for a moon base one day. China took a major step in its ambition to achieve space superpower status when it became the first nation to land a probe on the far side of the moon on January 3. The Chang’e-4 lander – named after the moon goddess in Chinese mythology – released a rover that will perform experiments in the Von Karman Crater, which is located in the South Pole-Aitken Basin.
China successfully launched from the Nanhui Launch Site on February 19, 1960. Last year, China sent its first female into space. The six-wheeled lunar rover will probe the lunar surface, and precisely locate molecular water. The rocket lifted off from China earlier last year. On September 29, 2011, China launched Tiangong 1.
Underscoring the growing strategic rivalry between the U. S. and China, President Donald Trump has announced plans for a military Space Force. The lunar lander is just part of an ambitious, carefully planned, long-term space exploration plan that includes colonizing and commercially exploiting the solar system and beyond. From there China plans better space vehicles, deep space exploration and exploitation of resources. Its first lunar mission, Chang’e, which evokes the name of Chinese mythology’s surface of the payloads needed for the mission, detailed Arian Group. Beijing plans to launch its first Mars probe around 2020 to carry out orbital and rover exploration, followed by a mission that would include collection of surface samples from the Red Planet.
“China trailed others when it came to space missions, until Chang’e 4, humankind’s first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon”, said Wu Weiren, the chief scientist of the Chang’e 4 programme.
China has successfully landed a rover on the moon. The space program of the People’s Republic of China is directed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The success of the mission represents a landmark in human space exploration.
Chang’e 4 was launched on December 7 and reached lunar orbit on December 12, according to Chinese state media. Another function of the mission is to study the interaction between solar winds and the moon surface using a new rover. As such, a human exploration program – the two programs will eventually be combined toward a Chinese human spaceflight program to the moon. Routine crew missions to the space station could start later this year. The relay satellite is planned lunar probe to soft-land on and rove the far side of the moon, the official Xinhua News agency said. China aims to catch up with Russia and the United States to become a major space power by 2030. It’s clear both agencies are serious about conducting more lunar research.
China is already preparing its Mars mission. The plant was located on a sheer cliff face nearly 20 years after its last sighting. China the third country to independently send humans into space. Summer 2020 will carry an orbiter, lander and rover to the moon.
The plans to build a Moon base were born in the Soviet Union at the end of the 60s. In August 1969, the development of China’s first heavy-lift Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), the Feng Bao 1 (FB-1) was started by Shanghai’s 2nd Bureau of Mechanic-Electrical Industry.
Image Credits: A conceptual design for an integrated human lunar base, developed by researchers at the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST). CAST
