China plans to accomplish a feat that has never been done before with its upcoming lunar mission. It has additional space-related goals.
CNN in Hong Kong —
As Beijing intensifies its ambitious goal to send men to the moon this decade and create an international lunar research base, officials in Beijing said that China’s lunar mission to bring back the first samples ever obtained from the moon’s far side is on pace for next year.
China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said in a statement last week that preparations for the upcoming mission, known as Chang’e-6, were going smoothly and that the mission’s relay satellite would be deployed in the first half of 2019.
Chinese officials on Monday urged greater international cooperation for the unmanned lunar trip during the International Astronautical Congress in Baku, Azerbaijan. This week, CNSA also looked ahead to its Chang’e-8 mission scheduled for 2028.
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According to a supporting paper posted on the CNSA website, the Chinese expedition in 2028 would welcome combined “mission-level” initiatives with other nations and international organisations.
According to the text, this means China and international partners might collaborate on spacecraft launch and orbit operations, spacecraft-to-spacecraft “interactions,” and cooperative lunar surface exploration.
According to the agency’s website, the spacecraft would also have room for 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds) of foreign science payloads. As a result, foreign partners might be able to perform lunar research by “piggybacking” off the mission, according to Chinese state media.
As part of Beijing’s larger effort to become a major space power, China anticipates that both the current missions and the Chang’e-7, which is scheduled for launch in 2026, will yield important data for building a permanent international research station on the lunar south pole by 2040.
As a result of those efforts, China will be the second nation to land a manned mission on the moon by 2030, having become the first to send a rover to the moon’s far side in 2019. It also finished building its orbital Tiangong space station last year.
Although just a small number of nations are said to have joined aboard its intended lunar research station so far, that plan also includes strengthening Beijing’s international ties through space collaboration. According to Chinese official media, they are South Africa, Venezuela, and Russia.
As many nations consider the potential scientific gain, national pride, access to resources, and opportunities for additional deep space exploration that successful moon trips could bring, China is not the only one increasing its space programme and lunar ambitions.
India became the fourth country to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon last month with its Chandrayaan-3 ship, which was the closest spacecraft to the moon’s south pole ever.
In the same week, Russia’s Luna 25 spacecraft collided with the moon’s surface, ending the country’s first lunar mission in decades.
The US has also increased the scope of its lunar programme, with NASA eyeing the lunar south pole and the Artemis programme aiming to send US astronauts back to the moon in 2025 to establish a base camp for research.
Similar to China, the US has been enlisting foreign allies; more than two dozen nations have agreed to abide by the Artemis Accords standards for “peaceful exploration of deep space.” China is not currently a signatory.
future lunar expeditions from China
The Chang’e-6 mission from Beijing will advance knowledge of the moon’s far side by collecting samples after 10 previous journeys to the side facing Earth, according to a statement released by the CSNA on Friday, which also happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival, a Chinese national holiday dedicated to the moon.
According to Hu Hao, a senior official working on the Chang’e-6 mission, “Such samples will enable scientists to advance their studies about the far side… (and) analyse the samples’ composition to broaden knowledge about the moon.”
Hu was quoted as adding that the spacecraft is planned to land in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side and gather dust and rock samples there, referring to a significant lunar landform of high scientific significance.
However, unlike the near side, which is characterised by enormous lunar maria and darker traces of past lava flows, the far side of the moon, which is invisible from Earth, is not covered in craters. This discrepancy baffles astronomers.
According to the CNSA, the Chang’e-6 spacecraft will also carry payloads and satellites from four international partners.
It listed several of them, including a French-made radon detector, a negative ion detector from the European Space Agency, an Italian laser corner reflector for calibrating radar systems, and Pakistan’s CubeSat, a tiny square satellite.
According to officials, the Chang’e-7 mission, which will hunt for lunar resources near the moon’s south pole in 2026, and Chang’e-8, which may examine how to use lunar minerals, will come after the current mission.
Since 2007, China has launched five robotic explorers. In December 2020, Chang’e-5, its final mission, touched down on the moon and sent back samples of lunar rocks and soil.
