As China’s moon ambitions explode, it admits it is in a moon race with the United States.

“In the historical context of the period, the competition to demonstrate superior political power destabilized lunar exploration,” the plan states.

It can be predicted that in the next 20 to 30 years, China’s International Lunar Research Station and US Artemis Program It will compete in terms of technology and operational efficiency at the same historical stage and in the same geographical location (the South Pole of the Moon).

The new plan, “Strategic Concept of the International Lunar Research Station Resource Development Pathway,” was written under the leadership of Pei Zhao, vice president of CNSA’s Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering, and was published in April in the Chinese Journal of Astronautics. .

And countries like the United States do not have a distinct advantage in this field.

Washington has long identified China as a rival in this new push to reach the moon, seeing the race primarily as a land grab.

“This is a fact: we are in one space raceNASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a January 2023 interview with Politico about China’s moon ambitions.

And it is true that we had better be careful that they do not reach a place on the moon under cover Academic Research. And it’s not beyond the realm of possibility for them to say, “Stay away, we’re here, this is our territory.”

According to Pei, China sees the game differently.

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China’s Chang’e-6 landed on the far side of the moon on a mission to return rock samples to Earth.

Beijing plans to replicate its success on Earth by carrying out large-scale infrastructure construction on the moon. According to the plan, this would help create technical, manufacturing and economic advantages to encourage more countries to not follow the US and join China’s efforts to exploit the moon’s resources.

“The use of lunar resources is a scientific challenge, a technical stimulus and an economic reward. “Efficiency and profit will be the main evaluation criteria that will guide construction, operation and sustainable development.” Pei’s team wrote.

The lunar soil is very rich Titanium and iron, two metals that can be used to make spacecraft components. China has also discovered abundant water molecules in its recovered samples, a source missed by the Apollo missions.

Chinese space officials announced on social media that these hydrogen and oxygen molecules trapped in lunar soil particles indicate a potential 270 billion tons of water resources on the moon that could be used to produce rocket fuel, water and oxygen for astronauts. media.

According to the latest plan, China will launch two large spacecraft in the next few years to conduct detailed explorations of these resources and verify key technologies for resource utilization. It is expected that by 2030, joint work between humans and intelligent machines will be done on the surface of the moon.

From 2035, China plans to “large-scale energy acquisition, large-scale material extraction and large-scale moon-based construction” to achieve “engineering applications such as oxygen and Water Production from lunar soil, collection and extraction of mineral resources, production of metal-based parts and construction of moon-based buildings.

A “moon-based resource exploration system covering a vast area thousands of kilometers long and hundreds of meters deep” will also be completed during this period.

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which made news around the world, was the first human craft ever to land on the far side of the moon when it touched down earlier this month. Photo: Reuters — China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe, which made headlines around the world, was the first human spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon earlier this month. Photo: Reuters

By 2045, China’s lunar base will have large facilities such as power plants, factories, scientific research institutes, rocket launch sites, tourist centers and a small underground city.

Chinese resource exploration robots roam the entire surface of the moon. It is estimated that more than half of the investment in the construction and operation of these facilities will come from countries other than China, and economic activities will reach their peak. Humans will use this base as a starting point to explore Mars.

The plan states: “China will become a leader in human deep space exploration activities.

China’s first lunar probe, Chang’e-1, was launched in 2007. Due to lack of experience and confidence, this small two-ton satellite orbited the earth for more than two weeks before going to the moon.

Immediately after the launch, Luan Anjie, the commander-in-chief of the lunar exploration project at the time, told Xinhua news agency: “China will not engage in any form of lunar competition with any country.”

However, it took less than 15 years for the balance of space power to change. China sent a rover to Mars, developed the BeiDou navigation satellite system to rival GPS, and deployed the world’s largest Earth observation. satellite channel Able to track F-22 stealth fighters.

It has also completed construction of an independent space station – something the United States has never achieved – and developed the world’s only space station. Communication satellite in high orbit which can directly connect millions of smartphones on the ground at a distance of 36,000 km.

China’s lunar exploration program has also reached world-leading milestones. Previous month, Chang’e-6 Beautiful spaceship He touched the far side of the moon, where no other country has gone and collected stones and soil. These samples will soon return to Earth.

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China’s Chang’e 6 launched a historic mission to collect the first rock samples from the far side of the moon.

Although the United States began exploring the moon early, it has “lost its prime” due to mission delays and financial constraints, the team wrote.

To counter China’s advances, the US government has outsourced critical lunar missions to private companies, believing they could build a lunar base more efficiently than NASA. To incentivize these private players, the US Congress passed a law endorsing the principle: “Exploration First, Ownership First”.

However, the first two private US missions to the moon ran into trouble. Astrobotic Technology’s Peregrine lunar lander, the first US spacecraft to land on the moon in decades. Burned in a failed attempt. Intuitive Machines’ Odysseus lander also encountered technical problems and overturned After landing at a higher speed than expected.

this US Artemis Program It includes a space station called the Gate that orbits the moon. However, the feasibility of the plan has been met with skepticism in China’s space community, as the United States has never successfully built a full-fledged space station even in Earth orbit.

The American space laboratory Skylab was operating less than a year before the crash, and the main technology of the International Space Station is provided by Russia.

SpaceX Starship has achieved remarkable success in test flights. Although the giant spacecraft still needs more tests and technological advances to fly to the moon, some Chinese aerospace engineers believe it is the United States’ best hope in the race.

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As China’s moon ambitions explode, it admits it is in a moon race with the United States.

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