The passion for humans to exhaust all approaches to explore outer space has never been this high.

As the world commemorates the 62nd anniversary of Yuri Gagarin's first space flight on April 12, which is now the International Day of Human Space Flight, interest in deep space is growing rapidly.

The increasingly practical technologies and a plethora of players in the field are the two reasons that ignited the recent worldwide space exploration boom, Dr Yang Yuguang, vice chair of IAF Space Transportation Committee told CGTN.

The number of global rocket launches hit a record of 180 in the last year, with China contributing 62. China also increased its crewed missions in recent years so it could build its own space station.

The majority of the launches were meant to send satellites or astronauts to orbits around Earth.  

Although decades of innovations, such as reusable rockets, has significantly reduced the cost of orbital flights, which usually shoot objects around Earth with a speed over 28,000 kilometers per hour, a single launch can still cost millions of dollars. Space flights are still "a game for the billionaires," said Yang.

However, the sub-orbital flights that only max out about 3,540 kilometer per hour, are for commercial companies to grab. Multiple private companies including Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic joined the race to tap the commercial market such as tourism with both already having conducted successful test flights even with paid tickets for the onboard tickets starting from hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Yang said some companies are even mulling over developing flexible modules to cut down the cost of space tourism.

Though there are still many steps ahead before space tourism becomes an option for everyday people, Yang said competition among the operators can help accelerate innovation and further reduce the cost. "This is a good start for the future," he said.

Landing on the moon again

NASA's towering next-generation moon rocket blasted off for its maiden flight in Florida, U.S., last November, a crewless voyage inaugurating the U.S. space agency's Artemis exploration program 50 years after the last Apollo moon mission.

In Apollo missions back around 1970s, six manned missions sent 12 astronauts to the moon.

The Artemis missions plan to bring humans back to the moon. Yang said unlike the previous moon-landing missions which were "politically driven" because the U.S. was in a space race with the former Soviet Union, today's lunar missions carry more scientific meaning. The moon landing will have "economic returns and significance in scientific research," Yang explained.

Compared to the Apollo missions, "it's a sustainable step to the moon," he added.

China also set its sights on the only natural satellite of Earth. It plans to construct a lunar scientific research base in 2028 during Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions.

A similarity of both countries' moon projects is that they both aim to land in the region of the lunar south pole.

"Because humans have already found water mainly in ice form near the south pole, it's a hopeful place for humans to set up a permanent base near it," said Yang.

As the professor explains, the terrain near the south pole is quite unique as some areas are exposed to constant sunshine while other places are in permanent shadow. Astronauts could utilize water on the moon and the solar energy to support long-term living on the moon.

Space tech application

Space technology is changing people's lives as well. Yang said some forms of space technology are directly applied to daily use while most benefits brought by it are actually "indirect."

The direct commercialization of space technology for use on Earth can vary, from positioning services provided by remote sensing satellites, to non-stick frying pans.

Yang provided an example of indirect space technology transfer – a factory manufacturing space components provides high-level welding techniques;  it applied these welding techniques to help construct giant statues such as the 34-meter-tall Tian Tan Buddha in Hong Kong SAR and the 108-meter-tall Nanhai Guanyin in Sanya City, Hainan Province.

"It's my duty to let the public know the importance of space technology," he said. As most benefits for common people are indirect transfers, Yang stressed "we need to have the patience to wait. And we need the understanding of the common people to support [space development]."

"This is very important for the sustainable and long-term development in our space field."

Videographer: Zhang Rongyi

Video editor: Zhang Rongyi

Cover image: Yu Peng