China has just announced its plan to build a Moon station within the next decade. According to China’s National Space Administration director Zhang Kejian, they will be sending a crewed mission to our lunar neighbor to build the station on its south pole.
The plan is part of the country’s ambitious goal to gain space superpower status which was further fueled by the success of the Chang’E 4 mission last January. This mission made China the first country to ever land a rover on the far side of the moon successfully.
Zhang made the remarks during the opening ceremony of China’s Space Day in Changsha, Hunan Province. The Chinese official also mentioned that they are also planning to launch the Chang’E 5 mission by the end of this year and a probe to Mars in 2020.
China’s Moon Station
The Moon station that China plans to build will serve as a research facility to allow taikonauts (Chinese space navigators) to conduct experiments in space. It resembles the Earth-orbiting International Space Station but will be based on the surface of the moon.
At the moment, details about the research station are still vague, and CNSA has not clarified whether other nations would be able to use it in the future. Aside from the Moonbase, here are some other space missions and programs CNSA hopes to accomplish in the future.
- Chang’E 5 mission – the mission’s primary task is to collect samples from the surface of the moon that Chinese researchers will study to uncover more secrets of the Moon and the history of our planet.
- Tiangong Space Station – the Tiangong Space Station is a crewed laboratory that China hopes to launch as a replacement for the ISS which will be decommissioned in 2024. According to CNSA, they have already received over 40 project proposals for the station from distinguished universities and science institutes around the world.
- Mars mission – China is planning to launch its first rover to Mars next year. The country also unveiled its massive Mars simulation camp, paving the way for future manned Mars missions.
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