July 20 marks International Moon Day to honor the anniversary of the first landing of a human on the Moon and celebrate breakthroughs in moon exploration. Following China's Chang'e-6 lunar mission this year, many countries now seek to work more closely with China on future programs. CGTN's Wu Lei talks to Wu Weiren, Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program.
WU LEI CGTN Reporter "Over the past 20 years China has completed a series of planned lunar exploration programs that include orbiting, landing on and returning samples from the moon. How do you evaluate the achievement of China's lunar exploration so far? Which aspects do you regard as most significant?"
WU WEIREN Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program "So far, we have finished all these lunar missions, from Chang'e-1 to Chang'e-6. Of course, we still have some other ones in between – such as launching relay satellites and doing some return tests – which add up to nine victories in lunar exploration. In total, human beings have carried out more than 130 lunar explorations globally, and we have carried out nine of those. So the success rate is high, and at present we can proudly say that we have achieved nine launches and all succeeded. We have never failed. Of course, there might have been some hiccups, but we succeeded every time."
WU LEI CGTN Reporter "Many countries have participated in China's lunar exploration programs. What direction do you see China's lunar exploration and international cooperation taking in the future?"
WU WEIREN Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program "We are open and welcome international cooperation from all countries, including those countries from the Global South, emerging BRICS countries, as well as western and EU countries. We do not have any isolation or exclusion policy, and we want to cooperate in an all-round way. I think our principle is to share data, share results; we are willing to co-build and co-share with our partners. We don't have anything special or any exclusive team. Therefore, China's aerospace and lunar exploration programs, including planetary exploration, are all open to the whole world."
WU LEI CGTN Reporter "What are the some of the latest updates on the development of the International Lunar Research Station? Why is China pushing for it? What kind of work would it conduct?"
WU WEIREN Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program "The international lunar research station is actually the first large-scale scientific project to be implemented in our country. That is, we are preparing to build a lunar scientific research station at the south pole of the Moon, and this scientific research station will be combined with the orbital station and the lunar surface station, plus ground facilities such as the headquarters of large scientific projects. This is being done so that work can continue for a long time, with or without people at the south pole of the moon. It'll enable carrying out scientific exploration and resource development. We hope to build a basic station by 2035, and an extended station by 2045. So far, we have signed agreements with more than 10 countries and nearly 30 international research institutions. We hope to work with 50 countries – by inviting 500 foreign scientific research institutions, and 5,000 foreign scientific research personnel to jointly build our international lunar scientific research station."
WU LEI CGTN Reporter "Besides scientists and astronauts, will ordinary citizens like us have the chance to go and visit the International Lunar research station in the future?"
WU WEIREN Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program "I think China should also think about these plans, including space tourism, space breeding, and space mining in the future. We can achieve these targets on the Moon, on Mars. I don't think this event is too far away. So, you have to plan step by step. We have also proposed to develop space shuttle bus and cars for tourists in the future."
WU LEI CGTN Reporter "What are China's other plans for deep space exploration? How does China's lunar exploration program promote global efforts in deep space exploration?"
WU WEIREN Chief Designer of China's Lunar Exploration Program "For planetary exploration, we're focusing on Mars right now, and we're planning to return samples from Mars. If all the missions go as planned, China is likely to become the first country to return samples from Mars. And we will explore giant planets, such as Jupiter. We will also explore some of the asteroids, including sample return missions from an asteroid, and build an asteroid defense system. In this vast universe, some small celestial asteroids will bring great disasters to our Earth. So, we have to strengthen our defense system against such small celestial asteroids. I think this is what we will do in the next 20 years, such as before 2049. I think we will focus on these three aspects – lunar exploration, planetary exploration and development of heavy-lift launch vehicles to provide us with carrying capacity."
