China is one of the countries that is racing towards bringing astronauts to the Moon. Now, its plans are beginning to become more concrete.
China Reveals Name of Crewed Capsule, Lunar Lander
China Manned Space Agency revealed in a recent announcement the name of the crewed capsule as well as its lander to bring the astronauts to the lunar surface.
The agency has named the capsule "Mengzhou," which means dream vessel. The lander, on the other hand, is now called "Langyue," or embracing the Moon. It references a 1965 poem of Mao Zedong.
The Mengzhou craft will span nearly 30 feet in length. It will also weigh in 22 metric tons. The craft consists of a reentry module for housing astronauts and serving as the control center, as well as a service module for propulsion systems and power. The lander will have the capacity to house a 440-pound rover and two astronauts. The statement notes that the development is going well.
The names were decided by a team of experts based on almost 2,000 proposals that were received from the public.
While China's plans are notably ambitious, the country's progress shows that they may have a chance of reaching their goal of bringing astronauts back to the Moon in 2030.
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Flying to the Moon
Before bringing people to the Moon, the country hopes to deploy a mission called Chang'e 8 by 2028. This mission will cover a special device that may squeeze the soil of the Moon into bricks. It will also involve a robot assembling them into an early habitat prototype of a future lunar research station on the south pole.
At the same time, the US is also pushing to bring astronauts to the Moon by 2026, which is one year behind its supposed schedule. This will mark the US' first since the Apollo missions that took place in the 1960s to 1970s.
Just last week, Intuitive Machines' commercial Odysseus lunar lander became the first spacecraft from the US to reach the lunar surface in the last five decades.
Moreover, just last month, the Moon Sniper robotic explorer of Japan reached the surface of the Moon. This feat made the country the third country in this century and the fifth ever to reach the lunar surface. Last year, India made it onto the list.
As for China, before launching its crewed mission to the Moon, the country hopes to gather and retrieve the first samples from the far side of the Moon later this year, in 2024. This unmanned mission, called Chang'e-6, is set to launch later this year. The country also hopes that its coming missions will gather data towards another goal on the Moon, which is the construction of a permanent global research station on the south pole of the Moon by 2040.
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