Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, has announced the preliminary plan for China's first manned lunar mission.

China plans to land its taikonauts on the moon before 2030 to carry out scientific exploration.

Two carrier rockets will be used to send the lunar lander and manned spacecraft into lunar orbit for an in-orbit rendezvous and docking. Then taikonauts will enter the lunar lander from the spacecraft, Zhang said in his remarks at the 9th China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum held in Wuhan City, Hubei Province.  

Next, the lunar lander will descend and land on the predetermined area of the lunar surface by itself, and the taikonauts will land on the moon to carry out scientific investigations and sample collection.

After completing the scheduled tasks, the taikonauts will take the lander and ascend into orbit around the moon; the lander will then rendezvous and dock with the spacecraft. The taikonauts will take the samples and return to Earth by manned spacecraft.

During Zhang's speech, he showed some of the designs and concept pictures of the corresponding equipment, including the Long March-10 carrier rocket, a lunar lander and a lunar rover.

China carrying out phase-4 moon missions

Wu Weiren, chief designer of the lunar exploration program, said the Chang'e-6 lunar probe is planned to launch around 2024 to take first-ever samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth.

The Chang'e-7 mission is planned to launch around 2026, with the aim of being the first spacecraft to land on the south pole of the moon and look for evidence of water.

"Due to the particularity of the Chang'e-7 mission, the probe needs to find a place with many pits to land, this is quite challenging," Wu told China Media Group (CMG).

Around 2028, China plans to launch the Chang'e-8 mission, which will cooperate with the Chang'e-7 to establish a basic type of international lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the moon and conduct experiments on the exploration and utilization of lunar resources.

The basic research station is planned to be completed by 2030.

Wu said the Chang'e-8 mission will test whether a house can be built, or whether communication can be carried out, on the moon.

These will lay foundations for large-scale lunar scientific research in the future, he added.

CGTN's Wu Lei also contributed to the story.

(Cover Image: A schematic diagram of landing on the moon. /China Manned Space Engineering Office)