China Plans To Carry Out Scientific Investigation And Collect Samples By Manned Moon Landing By 2030

China’s Manned Space Engineering Office announced a preliminary plan to realize a manned landing on the moon by 2030. It plans to launch two rockets to the moon, one carrying a spacecraft that will land on the lunar surface and the other carrying astronauts.

Zhang Hailian, deputy chief designer of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, said at the Commercial Aerospace Summit Forum held in Wuhan that both rockets will enter lunar orbit, and after successful docking, astronauts will enter the lunar lander and land on the surface of the moon.

Afterwards, the lunar lander will descend and land on the predetermined area of the lunar surface alone, and the astronauts will land on the moon to carry out scientific investigations and collect samples.

After completing the mission, the astronauts will take the lander to ascend to orbit around the moon, rendezvous and dock with the spacecraft, and return to Wuhan, China with the spacecraft.

The twin-rocket program would overcome China’s longstanding technical hurdle of developing a rocket heavy enough to transport astronauts and lander probes.

Zhang Hailian pointed out that in order to achieve China’s goal of landing on the moon, Chinese researchers are developing the Long March 10 launch vehicle, a new generation of manned spacecraft, lunar landers, manned lunar vehicles and other equipment.

In recent years, both China and the United States have focused on potential mineral resources on the moon, and the race to send people to the moon has intensified. Building lunar habitats could also help support future crewed missions to other planets like Mars.

In 2020, China brought back lunar samples from the moon through an unmanned mission, making China the third country to collect lunar samples after the United States and the Soviet Union.

[SOURCE]