In recent years, my country's aerospace industry has been developing rapidly, and it has soared into the world's aerospace power. In particular, the lunar exploration project has achieved world-shaking results.
On November 24, 2020, my country's Chang'e 5 lunar probe was launched into space, headed to the moon for rock collection, and brought 1,731 grams of lunar rock samples back to Earth on December 17. This is the first time that my country has successfully implemented a lunar surface sampling return plan. It is also the first time that humans have repeated the feat of lunar surface sampling in the past 50 years, and has set a record for the weight of unmanned lunar samples collected.
With the samples brought back by Chang'e-5 , Chinese scientists have made many discoveries that shocked the world. After analyzing lunar rock samples, Chinese scientists have postponed the end of lunar geological activities by 800 million years compared with previous research results. They found that each ton of lunar soil contains about 120 grams of water, and that the water content of each ton of lunar rock is about It's 180 grams.
Not only that, to this day, the Yutu-2 lunar rover in the Chang'e-4 mission is still working on the lunar surface. Chang'e-4 is the first project to land on the back of the moon in human history, and Yutu-2 is also the first time in human history that a lunar rover is working on the back of the moon. The legend they created in 2018 continues!
Many people are also wondering: Two years have passed and no more news about our country's lunar exploration project has been heard. Why is this? Is it all over?
In fact, it does not. The end of the Chang'e-5 lunar exploration mission marks the end of the third phase of my country's lunar exploration project. It is normal for there to be a period of time between the two major stages. In the past few years, our country has not stopped dreaming of lunar exploration, but has continued to make progress. Not to mention Chang'e 6, even Chang'e 8 and even a lunar base are already being discussed!
We said before that China's lunar exploration project follows a three-step strategic plan of "circling, landing and returning", which refers to the first three phases of the lunar exploration project. For the moon, our country has a more ambitious three-step plan, which is "exploration, landing, and stationing." In other words, from Chang'e 1 to Chang'e 5, it is just the first step. In the future, our country's astronauts will not only land on the moon, but also establish a base on the moon and stay there permanently.
At present, our country has a clear plan from Chang'e-6 to Chang'e-8 .
Among them, Chang'e-6, like Chang'e-5, will collect lunar rock samples and bring them back, but this time the sampling will be on the back of the moon, which is also the first time in human history. Chang'e-6 is expected to be launched in 2024 or 2025, with the participation of the French Space Agency.
Chang'e-7 is different in that it will not return to the ground. Chang'e-7 will be the heaviest detector in my country's history, carrying a large number of scientific payloads and remaining on the lunar surface for scientific investigation activities.
Chang'e 8 will also not bring lunar samples back to the earth. It has a more important mission, to conduct targeted verification of key technologies and lay a solid foundation for the formal construction of a base.
According to the current plan, my country is expected to complete the missions of Chang'e 6 to 8 before 2028. And this order is not fixed. It is expected that Chang'e-7 will launch first, followed by Chang'e-6 and finally Chang'e-8.
What everyone is most looking forward to is that the Chinese will go to the moon in person, which is the so-called manned moon landing plan. This is also being considered by our country. It is expected that in 2030 (there may be some changes), our astronauts will be able to set foot on the moon. Although this is a little later than the United States' next plan to land on the moon, if it can become the second in the world, it will already be great.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering , launch vehicle and aerospace engineering technology expert Academician Long Lehao introduced that my country’s manned moon landing plan will require the launch of two rockets, one of which will carry the lander and the other. manned spacecraft. The two spacecraft need to dock to complete the first Chinese moon landing.
In the final analysis, this is still a problem of insufficient rocket carrying capacity.Although we already have powerful launch vehicles such as and Long March 5 , its carrying capacity is still not enough to implement the manned moon landing plan. Even the cooperation between the two rockets will require our country to make changes to the Long March 5, which is the so-called Long March 5 modified launch vehicle.
Currently, our country is also developing next-generation launch vehicles, such as Long March 9, but it may not be able to keep up with China's moon landing plan. We have to admit that we still need a lot of efforts to catch up with the United States.
However, we don’t have to belittle ourselves. First of all, there is an objective fact, that is, our aerospace industry did start later than the United States. And from another perspective, in some aspects, we are already on par with the United States, and are even expected to surpass the United States.
It is estimated that by 2035, our country will officially start the construction of a lunar base. You may have heard before that our country's lunar base will be built jointly with Russia. The cooperation between the two major space powers in the world may realize the construction of the lunar base before the United States!
Countries around the world are competing to explore the moon. In addition to curiosity about the universe and the solar system, there is another very important point, and that is the precious resources of the moon. According to detection, there is a very important resource on the surface of the moon, which is helium-3.
Helium-3 is an isotope of helium that can be used as a nuclear fusion reaction in the future of mankind, providing a large amount of clean energy for mankind. According to current research, there are approximately 129 tons of helium-3 resources on the moon, enough for human use for 12,900 years!
The moon itself is also a huge resource. Its back side is far away from the earth, making it an excellent location for building radio telescopes. The United States has even envisioned building a 1,000-meter radio telescope here.
More importantly, according to the current international consensus, the moon and all space resources follow the "first come, first served" principle. Therefore, every step we take in the construction of the lunar base will be rewarded with real lunar resources.
Come on, China Aerospace people!
This article was originally created by Posture Molecule Knowledge. Welcome to pay attention and take you to gain knowledge together! #嫦娥五号# #lunar exploration project# #manned moon landing#
