ChinaB次元官网网址檚 ChangB次元官网网址檈-4 lunar lander touched down on the far side of the moon Thursday morning Beijing time, the latest milestone marking the nationB次元官网网址檚 determination to become a global leader in space exploration.
Chinese scientists have already declared ChinaB次元官网网址檚 ambitions to establish a manned moon base and to send nuclear-powered rockets into space in future decades to colonize and exploit space.
No nation has ever landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon, a mission complicated by the fact that the moon blocks direct communications with Earth. China used a relay satellite, Queqiao, to send transmissions to scientists.
ChangB次元官网网址檈-4, carrying a 300-pound lunar rover with probes and spectrometers, touched down in the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, according to the China National Space Administration, which published a color photograph of the moonB次元官网网址檚 smooth surface, a crater and the dark horizon beyond.
The moon landed at 10:26 a.m. on the planned landing site, B次元官网网址渓ifting the mysterious veilB次元官网网址� of the far side of the moon, the administration said in a statement, B次元官网网址渨hich opened a new chapter in human lunar exploration.B次元官网网址�
The state-owned Global Times said it marked a major step toward the establishment of a Chinese manned lunar base B次元官网网址攁nd toward deep space exploration.
ChangB次元官网网址檈-4 was launched from Xichang satellite launch station in Sichuan province, southern China, on Dec. 8. A forerunner, ChangB次元官网网址檈-3, landed on the moon in 2013, making China the third country after the Soviet Union and the United States to soft land a spacecraft B次元官网网址攎eaning the craft would not be destroyed in the landing B次元官网网址攐n lunar soil. However, its lunar rover malfunctioned soon after landing and was unable to move after its second night, although it continued to send information to Earth.
Later this year, China is expected to launch another lunar lander, ChangB次元官网网址檈-5, with its own rover to bring back samples.
The six-wheeled lunar rover will probe the lunar surface and transmit photographs to earth. The mission also encompasses a biological experiment, to assess whether seeds can germinate and silkworm larvae can hatch and grow in a sealed container containing nutrients, water and air.
ChangB次元官网网址檈-4 also carries German and Swedish research equipment to study radiation and lunar wind. It is also expected to experiment with conducting low frequency radio astronomy observations free of interference from Earth.
B次元官网网址淭he far side of the moon is a rare quiet place that is free from interference of radio signals from Earth. This probe can fill the gap of low-frequency observation in radio astronomy and will provide important information for studying the origin of stars and nebula evolution,B次元官网网址� mission spokesman Yu Guobin told New China B次元官网网址 Agency.
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Secrecy around ChinaB次元官网网址檚 space program is intense, and news from Chinese authorities about ChangB次元官网网址檈-4 was limited in the lead-up to the landing, perhaps because of setbacks in past missions.
Global media attention on ChinaB次元官网网址檚 space program has often focused on those setbacks rather than the steady progress being made. In October ChinaB次元官网网址檚 first private rocket failed to reach orbit, and earlier in the year one of its two orbiting space stations, Tiangong-1, crashed uncontrolled to Earth. The previous year two Long March rocket launches failed. However, China completed dozens of successful rocket launches last year.
Independent space expert Namrata Goswami, writing in the Diplomat, said ChangB次元官网网址檈-4 had underscored ChinaB次元官网网址檚 seriousness about meeting deadlines and targets for space travel, noting that Chinese space scientists set the 2018 deadline for the far-side lunar landing years ago.
B次元官网网址淭his meeting of deadlines set has been the trajectory of ChinaB次元官网网址檚 unmanned (1999) and manned space missions (2003), its space stations, the Tiangong 1 (2011) and Tiangong 2 (2016), as well as the indigenously built cargo spacecraft, the Tianzhou 1 (2016), which docked with the Tiangong 2,B次元官网网址� she wrote.
B次元官网网址淪ignificantly, ChinaB次元官网网址檚 ambitions for the moon and outer space have only been growing, to include ambitions of a Chinese research base on the moon, as well as developing bio-regenerative life support systems to ensure that humans can settle and survive in lunar conditions.B次元官网网址�
She said ChinaB次元官网网址檚 ambition was to be able to B次元官网网址渟et the rules of the game in outer spaceB次元官网网址� by establishing a long-term human presence.
In May, eight Chinese volunteer students concluded a year-long test of a bio-regenerative life support system at Beihang University, an astronautics and aeronautics university in Beijing. They marked a record for human habitation in an enclosed system with recycled water, food and air B次元官网网址攁 crucial facility for lunar habitation. The students grew food including wheat, potatoes, carrots, beans and onions, and ate high-protein mealworms.
Underscoring the growing strategic rivalry between the U.S. and China, President Donald Trump has announced plans for a military space force. Meanwhile NASA announced plans in 2017 to return to the moon and to establish a long-term manned base on the moon B次元官网网址渇or a sustained period of exploration and use,B次元官网网址� and as a possible launch pad for a future manned mission to Mars. NASAB次元官网网址檚 eighth spacecraft landing on Mars was in November.
But last month two NASA Apollo mission veterans warned of the need for funding, technology and a cohesive, consistent plan, complaining that successive administrations had failed to fund NASA adequately.
ChinaB次元官网网址檚 rapid expansion of its space program has the Pentagon concerned, although China has insisted it has no plans to militarize space. In August, a Pentagon report on ChinaB次元官网网址檚 military capabilities warned of ChinaB次元官网网址檚 advance in space exploration and its capacity to use space technology for military and surveillance purposes, including the potential to knock out opponentsB次元官网网址� satellites. China has already tested anti-satellite missiles. The Pentagon predicted China would have a crewed orbiting space station by 2025. China is also swiftly developing its own global satellite navigation system, Beidou.
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.
After unmanned rocket launches, China became the third nation to independently send a human into space in 2003 (after Russia and the United States). It has plans to de-orbit its second space station and launch a third, which will be manned. Its manned and robotic missions aim to build its technological prowess and research, and eventually develop the capacity to send astronauts into space for longer periods. From there China plans better space vehicles, deep space exploration and exploitation of resources.
Chinese officials rarely discuss the nationB次元官网网址檚 expansive space ambitions, but in late 2017 the state-owned PeopleB次元官网网址檚 Daily spelled out the plans of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, ChinaB次元官网网址檚 rocket manufacturer, including plans to establish a fleet of nuclear-powered space shuttles by the 2040s for regular space flights to other planets, in order to commercially exploit resources.
In the nearer term, it aims to catch up to American rocket technology, launch a Mars probe and launch a reusable shuttle by 2025 to begin space tourism.
ChinaB次元官网网址檚 space exploration is a key part of its Made In China 2025 program, which involves attaining global leadership in space travel by the middle of the century. Chinese officials and state media have stopped using the term lately, after it was censored by authorities last year over concerns that it was antagonizing the Trump administration as trade tensions between the two nations mounted.
Although hopes are mounting that the two nations may reach a deal to end the trade war B次元官网网址攚ith tariffs on billions of goods on both sides B次元官网网址攁nalysts do not expect China to give up its core aspiration to become a global leader in strategic technology such as rockets, robots and artificial intelligence.
The Associated Press
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