China announced this Sunday that it has begun the “manned moon landing phase” of its lunar exploration program, a goal it plans to achieve before 2030, on the eve of putting three astronauts into orbit.
China Manned Space Agency deputy director Lin Xiqiang told a press conference that China’s Office of Manned Space Engineering “began development work” on projects including “new rovers, astronaut suits, a new generation of spacecraft and new rockets”.
The work is aimed at making possible a “short stay on the Moon”, a “joint man-machine exploration” and the tasks of “moon landing, surface movements, mineral collection, scientific research and return to Earth”, Lin saying.
Lin also announced the launch of Shenzhou-16 on Tuesday, which will carry three astronauts to the Tiangong space station.
Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao will leave for Tiangong from the Jiuquan launch base, located in a desert area in the north of the country.
For Jing, the commander of the manned mission, this is the fourth mission in which he has participated, which will make him the ‘taikonaut’ -as Chinese astronauts are called- with the most missions.
For Zhu and Gui this is the first mission in space.
Jing and Zhu will be in charge of maneuvering and managing the ship and conducting experiments.
Construction of the space station was completed by the end of 2022. Tiangong is likely to become the world’s only space station by 2024 if the International Space Station, a US-led initiative that China cannot access due to to military ties to his space program, he is discharged that year, as planned.
China already managed to land the Chang’e 4 probe on the side of the Moon not visible from Earth in 2019, becoming the first country to do so.
The Asian country also recently announced the fourth phase of its lunar exploration program, which includes the construction over the next decade of a scientific exploration base at the south pole of Earth’s natural satellite.
Source: TSF
