All about China
As part of the country’s annual Space Day celebrations, celebrated on April 24, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) released a video promoting a lunar base project to be developed in the coming decades.
Known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), the project was jointly announced in 2021 by China and Russia. So far, Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand and Nicaragua have also joined the initiative, according to the website Space News. Leader of the program, China is trying to attract more international partners to the venture.
The video shows a series of missions, including surface sample return operations, a lander, a rover and orbital support satellites. This equipment corresponds to the Chang’e-6 and 7 missions planned for launch next month and in 2027, respectively.
Together with the future Chang’e-8, they will form the basic model of the ILRS around 2028. Next will come communications, power generation and other infrastructure, which will be built and developed into a sprawling inhabited lunar outpost.
The venture is planned as a comprehensive experimental scientific platform aimed at promoting interdisciplinary and multifaceted research aimed at exploring and harnessing the Moon, according to reports. It is designed to operate autonomously for extended periods, both on the lunar surface and in orbit.
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Ah, the video has a very interesting touch: a retired NASA space shuttle appears as if it is taking off from a platform in the background.
It turns out that the agency’s space shuttle program ended in 2011. Furthermore, while China is developing its large, reusable launch vehicles for lunar exploration, NASA is moving forward with the Artemis Moon Exploration Program. So what does it mean? that? Was there a hidden message behind the image?
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, told Chinese state broadcaster CCTV that the ILRS will be built in two phases. The first envisages the creation of complete scientific facilities, including fundamental functions and essential support elements, in the southern polar region of the Moon by 2035. The second stage aims to build a large-scale, well-equipped and stable facility by 2045. But, nothing was said about the presence of the “intruder” on the scene.
