"Let's make artificial satellites too!"
These words were spoken by Mao Zedong at the Second Session of the 8th Communist Party of China held in Wuchang, China on May 17, 1958.
In 2021, 63 years later, China has already succeeded in exploring the Moon and Mars and is about to complete its own space station.
China launched Shenzhou 12, carrying three astronauts, from the Zhuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:22 a.m. local time today (17th). Shenzhou 12 is the first manned flight in China in five years and the first to send astronauts to build the space station 'Tiangong'. Earlier, in April, China launched the space station's core facility, Tianhe, and put it into orbit. And on the 29th of last month, the cargo ship 'Tianzhou' 2 loaded with fuel, food and equipment was launched and docked with Tianhe.
Three astronauts were on board Shenzhou 12, including commander Nye Haisheng (聶海勝), Liu Boming (劉伯明), and Tang Hongbo (湯洪波), who will make the third space flight. After docking with Tianhe, which is in orbit at an altitude of 390 km, they will stay for three months to conduct space station maintenance, testing, and scientific experiments. China's Manned Space Agency explained, "Tianhe has three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a fitness room, and more than 120 kinds of space foods are prepared."
In 1992, under the support of then-President Jiang Zemin, China announced the Manned Space Development Program '921', which first revealed its own space station construction plan.
With the goal of completing the space station by 2022, the first in 30 years, it will launch a total of 11 rockets this year and next year, including three space station modules, four cargo ships, and four manned spacecraft.
The space station's laboratory modules, Wentian (問天) and Mengtian (夢天), are scheduled to dock with Tianhe next year.
When other modules are combined in Tianhe, it is expected to be 37 meters long and weigh 90 tons.
If the space station Tiangong is completed and operated for at least 10 years next year as planned by China, Tiangong will be the only station to replace the International Space Station (ISS), which will operate until 2024.
In response, Chinese netizens said, "China is planning to conduct scientific experiments with research institutes from 17 countries on the space station, but the US was excluded because the project did not meet the standards." "It is not a dream to catch up with the US." I did.
The 'cosmic dream' from Mao Zedong to Xi Jinping
In 1958, after Mao Zedong's instructions to build satellites, the Central Politburo of the Communist Party of China assigned the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct satellite research, and allocated 200 million yuan, an astronomical amount at the time, to the fund. In 1970, China's first artificial satellite, Dongfanghong 1, was launched. It ranked fifth after the former Soviet Union, the United States, France and Japan. Mao Zedong then established the '714' project, a manned space development plan, and planned to launch the manned spacecraft 'Seoguang' by 1973. However, this plan did not materialize as China became politically and economically unstable due to the Cultural Revolution.
Since then, China's space projects have been drifting for some time. In 1978, at the direction of then-US President Jimmy Carter, security adviser Zbignyu Brzezinski visited China and presented President Hua Guofeng a sample of a moonstone the size of a little finger. Untitled was only 1g. In China, this moonstone was divided in half and weighed 0.5g, and about 100 experts gathered to conduct basic research on the moon. China announced its intention to participate in the US-led construction of the ISS in 1992, but it is known that it was rejected due to security concerns.
It was around 2000 that China's 'space expansion' began in earnest.
In 1999, Shenzhou-1 was launched to launch a manned spacecraft, and in October 2003, Shenzhou-5 was launched, carrying the first Chinese astronaut, Yangliwei.
Then, in 2004, then President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) decided to establish the lunar exploration 'Chang' project.
In October 2007, the lunar probe Chang'e 1 was launched, and in 2019, Chang'e 4 became the first human to land on the far side of the moon.
It clearly showed that China is getting closer to its 'space dream' and has joined the ranks of space powers.
And after landing the rover 'Tianyuan' on Mars this year, President Xi Jinping congratulated him, saying, "The monumental progress that left the mark of the Chinese on Mars has made China rise to the ranks of advanced countries in the space field."
China is enjoying the advantages of latecomers… We are?
China is developing rapidly not only in space exploration, but also in various fields of the space industry, such as satellite navigation, communications, meteorology, and maps. In July of last year, China announced the completion and opening of the Chinese version of GPS, 'Beidou (北斗)'. In China, the Beidou Satellite Navigation System (BDS)-related industry is estimated to reach 1 trillion yuan (US$156.4 billion, about 175 trillion won) by 2025.
Based on the economic growth achieved after reform and opening up, China has been making continuous investments in the space sector, a strategic industry, led by the state. In particular, we are rapidly closing the gap with the United States, taking full advantage of the advantages of latecomers. The Mars probe Tianyuan became the only country in the world that succeeded in three missions at the same time: ▷ Mars orbital flight, ▷ Landing, and ▷ Exploration. The United States has sent probes to Mars several times, successfully completing three missions in sequence. China has also eliminated blind spots by launching additional satellites in geostationary and oblique orbits while building the Beidou system.
According to data comparing the space industry of major countries by the Federation of Korean Industries, the US and China's space development budgets last year amounted to $47.6 billion and $8.8 billion, respectively. South Korea was $720 million. Even taking into account the difference in the size of the economy, the evaluation is low. If you look at the level of aerospace technology, if the US is 100, China is 89 and South Korea is only 60. The launch of Korea's lunar exploration project and independently developed Korean launch vehicle 'Nuri' has been delayed several times. The lack of a strong control tower, insufficient investment, the government's show-off, and unilateral planning are cited as the causes. If we ignore the problems, the development of space may be just a 'talk about the moon' to us.