In the wake of the successful completion of the current mission of the Chang'e-4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon, the China National Space Administration has announced further plans for the exploration and development of a natural satellite of the Earth. According to the Chinese news agency Xinhua, the Celestial Empire plans to conduct three more Chang'e missions, and in the more distant future - to begin preparations for the construction of a lunar base.
According to the deputy chief manager of the lunar exploration project of the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA), the Chang'e-5 mission, which plans to send a space probe to the moon, will be launched by the end of this year. The task of the spacecraft will be to collect samples of lunar soil and return these samples back to Earth.
China to build a base on the moon
As part of the Chang'e-4 mission, the world's first soft landing on the surface of the far side of the Moon was carried out, and this success marked the beginning of the fourth phase of the program to explore the Earth's satellite, the report said.
Wu said that the main task of the Chang'e-6 mission will be to send a spacecraft to the south pole of the moon and collect soil samples.
The tasks of the Chang'e-7 mission will be to conduct scientific research around the lunar south pole. Scientists want to study the various geological features of this region, the physical composition of the soil, and generally assess the surrounding space environment of this area.
In addition to scientific research and experiments during the Chang'e-8 space mission, China wants to test key technologies that will lay the foundation for building a research base on the moon.
The message also indicates that not only China, but also the United States, Russia and some other European countries wants to conduct similar tests of technologies that will be required for the construction of a lunar base.
One of the questions of interest, Wu explained, is the possibility of constructing buildings and structures on the lunar surface using lunar soil and 3D printing technologies.
At the end of the conference, Wu Yanhua added that China is going to start exploring Mars. The first sending of a probe to the Red Planet will take place sometime in 2020.
Nikolay Khizhnyak