China wants to complete a new space mission on moon by the end of this year.
The China National Space Administration has been working for a new spacecraft that can carry astronauts. The project intends to deploy several missions in the low-Earth orbit. The spacecraft will be capable of safely landing taikonauts on the moon. The deadline is the end of this year. The main purpose of the project is to collect lunar samples and bring them back to China for analyses. The media saw this new space mission as a way to race with the president of the United States. Donald Trump made public his intention to revive U.S. space exploration.
On Tuesday, China announced the good news about its intention to conquer a new space frontier for them. The space mission will become a reality thanks to the Chang’e 5. The China National Space Administration has been working on this new lunar probe for some time now. As of recently, the spacecraft needs only some final verifications tests. The crew members expect it to be ready for launch starting in August.
A representative of the Lunar Exploration Programme in China, Hu Hao, stated that this mission might be the most complex one for the country. The new challenges for China represent the sample collection, leaving the moon, and reentering the atmosphere of Earth at high speeds. The president of China, Xi Jinping, announced that he put great hopes in the Chinese space exploration. A similar message was recently released by the president of the United States as well for the U.S. space agency.
The first manned mission of China was launched relatively late in comparison with other nations. It happened in 2003 when the Shenzhou V capsule orbited Earth for 14 times at the command of Lieutenant Colonel Yang Liwei. Despite a slow start, the space agency felt no impediment in revolutionizing the Chinese space experiences in a short matter of time. In 2016, the country managed to perform 22 launches which equalized the number of achievements gained by the United States in the same period.
This year’s lunar mission is just the beginning. In 2018, CNSA intends to send a rover on the moon to explore the far side. Moreover, by 2030s, the agency wants to see another round of its astronauts on the moon. With so many scheduled lunar missions on behalf of U.S., China, India, and Japan, this natural satellite will likely be depleted of all its secrets in a span of 20 years.
Image source: 1
