Prospects for China's Lunar Exploration Project

  What else to watch after returning from "digging"

  Returning from "digging", the "Chang'e Family" will continue to keep running!

At the 2021 China Aerospace Conference in Nanjing on April 24, a number of space experts discussed the future plans for lunar exploration.

  What will be studied after the return of Chang'e 5 from "digging"?

How far is the lunar research station?

...... Inside and outside the venue, aerospace celebrities unveiled new highlights in lunar exploration.

  On the 24th, the China National Space Administration and the Russian National Aerospace Corporation issued a joint statement on the cooperative construction of an international lunar research station.

According to the statement, China and Russia will cooperate in the planning, demonstration, design, development, implementation, and operation of the International Lunar Research Station.

In the future, the "Implementation Roadmap for International Lunar Research Stations" will be released, as well as the procedures for joining other interested countries or international organizations.

  According to Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration project and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the fourth phase of my country's lunar exploration project will build a basic model of lunar research station, which is composed of multiple detectors operating in the lunar orbit and on the lunar surface.

The basic model will have the ability to research on lunar science and technology, and to verify the technology of resource development and utilization, and cooperate with international counterparts to build an international lunar scientific research station.

  When talking about the progress and prospects of my country's lunar exploration project, Hu Hao, chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project of the National Space Administration and Space Engineering Center, said that the National Space Administration is proposing the construction of an international lunar research station to promote a larger and wider range. To build an infrastructure and sharing platform for solving space science problems, effectively using lunar resources, and developing the Earth-Moon economic circle.

  The lunar exploration project is divided into three phases, namely, to complete the three steps of "circumnavigation, fall, and return" before 2020; realize the basic "exploration, research, and construction" of the lunar scientific research station before 2030; after that, complete the lunar scientific research Extension and operation of the station.

That is, from having the capability of lunar exploration technology, to conquering the technology of lunar scientific research station, improving the capability of lunar science and resource application, and then forming the long-term scientific research and resource application capability of the moon.

  According to Zhu Linqi, a senior expert of the Chinese Astronautical Society, not only China and Russia are the same, the current global exploration of moon stations, moon bases, and moon villages is also in the ascendant. Major aerospace countries have included moon bases and moon villages in their exploration plans. When entering Guanghan with clear light, bright moon has never been the two townships."

  "From the perspective of the current conception of the'moon base' by countries in the world, we can also explore the possibility of building an'earth-moon space ecosphere' from lunar research stations to lunar bases, moon villages, and even the possibility of admiring the earth on the moon in the future. It will become the norm. Some people admire the moon and some go last, and the pace of exploration will never stop!" Zhu Linqi said.

  With the lunar soil dug back, the next focus of lunar research may be "water."

According to experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to theoretical predictions, only about 10 billion tons of water may be stored in the shadow area of ​​the moon's south pole without sun exposure.

There are deep impact craters near the south pole of the moon. Based on current detection and theoretical research, astronomers speculate that a large amount of water ice is likely to be enriched in these impact craters at the south pole of the moon.

  In the fourth phase of my country's lunar exploration project, Chang'e-7 will also carry out detailed surveys of lunar antarctic resources, comprehensively surveying the lunar antarctic topography, material composition, and space environment.

  At present, all countries are paying close attention to the deployment of relevant detections in order to study the distribution of lunar water ice in more detail.

Since the 1990s, some international detectors have successively found evidence of water ice in the lunar soil.

In recent years, lunar water ice has always been a hot spot in various countries.

  Why is the detection of lunar water so important?

Because the water on the moon itself is a precious and important resource.

Zhao Chen, the model director of the 805 Institute of the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Engineering, said that transporting water from the earth to the moon is very expensive.

The first goal is to verify whether there is a large amount of water on the moon through detection and verification.

If it does exist, then proceed to the second step, studying on-site water extraction and using lunar water.

For example, to further decompose it into fuel, and to provide energy for the subsequent development and utilization of lunar resources.

  "We also expect that our own detectors will be able to bring back more accurate lunar water ice distribution data in the near future, and make China's contribution to the world's exploration of lunar water resources." said Wu Yunzhao, a researcher at the Purple Mountain Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

  Haoyue doesn't have a hole in the sky, and the galaxy is shining forward.

The pace of human exploration is not limited to the moon. In the future, the moon will become an experimental field, springboard and short-term habitat to outer space.

  According to information disclosed by the National Space Administration, my country will implement a number of deep-space exploration projects in the future, such as asteroid exploration, Mars sampling return, Jupiter and interplanetary crossing detection, etc.

Deep space exploration is of great and far-reaching significance for studying the birth of life, exploring the origin of the universe, and serving national economic construction and social development.

  Academician Wu Weiren also disclosed in an interview recently that on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, my country’s spacecraft will fly to 100 astronomical units above the ground for the first time, that is, reach the edge of the solar system about 15 billion kilometers to carry out scientific exploration and on-orbit tests. .

  "This will be the first time that mankind has conducted this kind of detection. If it is successfully implemented, it will be China's contribution to the world and to mankind." Wu Weiren said, "China Aerospace has the strength to achieve this goal."

  "The moon will become a natural'gas station' and a'springboard' towards deep space. From the moon to Mars, and even other stars, the boundaries of human exploration will continue to expand." said Sun Weigang, a senior expert at the Chinese Academy of Astronautics.

(Wang Juejie, Jiang Fang, Qiu Bingqing, Hu Zhe)