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Copyright © 2024 CGTN. 京ICP备20000184号
Disinformation report hotline: 010-85061466
An illustration of the lunar research station. /China Media Group
China's lunar exploration project will launch two more missions after the Chang'e-6 mission to lay the foundation for an international lunar research station (ILRS), announced the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Tuesday.
According to the plan, China will launch Chang'e-7 in 2026 and Chang'e-8 around 2028.
The Chang'e-7 mission will survey the environment and resources of the lunar south pole, Chang'e-8 will verify the technologies for in-situ utilization of lunar resources, and a basic station model will be built by 2035, said Bian Zhigang, deputy head of the CNSA.
The construction will be done into two phases. In the first phase, a basic station model centered on the moon's south pole region will be established to conduct scientific research operations in a radius of 100 kilometers. Through an integrated Earth-moon information network, multiple missions, including unmanned lunar exploration, manned lunar landing and international cooperation, will be interconnected and interoperable. In this phase, a comprehensive scientific lunar research platform with essential functions and elements will be formed.
The second phase shall focus on expanding the construction to establish a comprehensive lunar station network by 2050, which will utilize the lunar orbit station as its central hub and the south pole station as its center, with exploration nodes on the lunar equator and the far side of the moon. It will form a large-scale scientific research platform that operates stably and is capable of supporting both long-term unmanned missions and short-term manned missions.