China Archives

November 1, 2024November 1, 2024 by Mark Thompson

China Trains Next Batch of Taikonauts

The Shenzhou-16 taikonauts undertake training programs. Credit CFP

China has a fabulously rich history when it comes to space travel and was among the first to experiment in rocket technology. The invention of the rocket is often attributed to the Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279.) Since then, China has been keen to develop and build its own space industry. The Chinese National Space Administration has already successfully landed probes on the Moon but is preparing for their first human landers. Chinese astronauts are sometimes known as taikonauts and CNSA has just confirmed their fourth batch of taikonauts are set for a lunar landing.

October 24, 2024October 24, 2024 by Matt Williams

Chinese Company is Taking Space Tourism Orders for 2027 Flights

Infographic publicizing Deep Blue Space's first commercial flight, scheduled for 2027. Credit: Deep Blue Space (via Weixin)

China has some bold plans for space research and exploration that will be taking place in the coming decades. This includes doubling the size of their Tiangong space station, sending additional robotic missions to the Moon, and building the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) around the lunar south pole. They also hope to begin sending crewed missions to Mars by 2033, becoming the first national space agency to do so. Not to be left behind in the commercial space sector, China is also looking to create a space tourism industry that offers suborbital flights for customers.

One of the companies offering these services is Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology, a private launch company founded in November 2016 by Chinese entrepreneur Huo Liang. On October 24th, at 6:00 pm local time (03:00 am PDT; 06:00 am EDT), during a “Make Friends” Taobao live broadcast, Huo shared the companies’ latest progress on their commercial spacecraft. He also announced the pre-sale of tickets for the first suborbital launch in 2027. The company also posted an infographic with the details of the flight on the Chinese social media platform Weixin (WeChat).

October 15, 2024October 15, 2024 by Matt Williams

China Releases its First Roadmap for Space Science and Exploration Through 2050.

China has released its first national plan for space 2024 and 2050. Credit: CFP

China’s space program has advanced considerably since the turn of the century. In addition to developing heavy-launch vehicles like the Long March 5 and building a modular space station in orbit, China has also embarked on an ambitious program of lunar exploration (Chang’e) – which has launched six robotic missions to explore the Moon’s surface since 2007. These missions are paving the way for crewed missions to the Moon by 2030 and creating a permanent habitat around the Moon’s southern polar region – the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).

They also plan to send crewed missions to Mars by 2033, which will culminate in the creation of a permanent base there too. Earlier today, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the China National Space Administration (CNSA), and the China Manned Space Agency (CMSE) jointly released the country’s first long-term scheme for space science and exploration. Titled “National Medium—and Long-Term Development Plan for Space Science (2024-2050),” this plan elaborated on the basic principles, development goals, and roadmap for the country’s space science and exploration through 2050.

September 7, 2024September 7, 2024 by Nancy Atkinson

China Will Launch its Mars Sample Return Mission in 2028

The launch of the Tianwen-1 mission, Wenchang City, south China's Hainan Province, July 23, 2020. /CFP

While NASA’s Mars Sample Return mission has experienced a setback, China is still moving forward with their plans to bring home a piece of the Red Planet. This week, officials from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced their sample return mission, called Tianwen-3, will blast off for Mars in 2028. It will land on the surface, retrieve a sample, and then take off again, docking with a return vehicle in orbit. They also announced another mission, Tianwen-4 will head off to Jupiter in 2030 as well as unveiling a conceptual plan for China’s first mission to test defenses against a near-Earth asteroid.

The announcements were made this week at the second International Deep Space Exploration Conference, also known as the Tiandu Forum, held in China. China says the conference promotes international cooperation for future large-scale missions.

September 1, 2024September 1, 2024 by Matt Williams

A Global Color Map of Mars, Courtesy of China’s Tianwen-1 Mission

China’s first Mars global color image map. Credit and ©: Science China Press

In July 2020, China’s Tianwen-1 mission arrived in orbit around Mars, consisting of six robotic elements: an orbiter, a lander, two deployable cameras, a remote camera, and the Zhurong rover. As the first in a series of interplanetary missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA), the mission’s purpose is to investigate Mars’s geology and internal structure, characterize its atmosphere, and search for indications of water on Mars. Like the many orbiters, landers, and rovers currently exploring Mars, Tianwen-1 is also searching for possible evidence of life on Mars (past and present).

In the almost 1298 days that the Tianwen-1 mission has explored Mars, its orbiter has acquired countless remote-sensing images of the Martian surface. Thanks to a team of researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), these images have been combined to create the first high-resolution global color-image map of Mars with spatial resolutions greater than 1 km (0.62 mi). This is currently the highest-resolution map of Mars and could serve as a global base map that will support crewed missions someday.

August 24, 2024August 24, 2024 by Matt Williams

Chinese Researchers Devise New Strategy for Producing Water on the Moon

The strategy for in-situ water production on the Moon through the reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen. Credit: NIMTE)

In the coming years, China and Roscosmos plan to create the International Lunar Research PStation (ILRSP), a permanent base in the Moon’s southern polar region. Construction of the base will begin with the delivery of the first surface elements by 2030 and is expected to last until about 2040. This base will rival NASA’s Artemis Program, which will include the creation of the Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon and the various surface elements that make up the Artemis Base Camp. In addition to the cost of building these facilities, there are many considerable challenges that need to be addressed first.

Crews operating on the lunar surface for extended periods will require regular shipments of supplies. Unlike the International Space Station, which can be resupplied in a matter of hours, sending resupply spacecraft to the Moon will take about three days. As a result, NASA, China, and other space agencies are developing methods to harvest resources directly from the lunar environment – a process known as In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). In a recent paper, a research team with the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announced a new method for producing massive amounts of water through a reaction between lunar regolith and endogenous hydrogen.

August 23, 2024August 23, 2024 by Matt Williams

China Proposes Magnetic Launch System for Sending Resources Back to Earth

Distance Between the Earth and Moon — The Earth rising over the Moon's surface, as seen by the Apollo 8 mission. Credit: NASA

In his famous novel The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Robert A. Heinlein describes a future lunar settlement where future lunar residents (“Loonies”) send payloads of wheat and water ice to Earth using an electromagnetic catapult. In this story, a group of Loonies conspire to take control of this catapult and threaten to “throw rocks at Earth” unless they recognize Luna as an independent world. Interestingly enough, scientists have explored this concept for decades as a means of transferring lunar resources to Earth someday.

Given that space agencies are planning on sending missions to the Moon to create permanent infrastructure, there is renewed interest in this concept. In a recent paper, a team of scientists from China’s Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering (SAST) detailed how a magnetic launcher on the lunar surface could provide a cost-effective means of sending resources back to Earth. This proposal could become part of China’s long-term vision for a lunar settlement known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) – a joint project they are pursuing with the Russian space agency (Roscosmos).

August 2, 2024August 2, 2024 by Matt Williams

China's Lunar Samples Contain Graphene Flakes

Artist’s impression of the graphenes (C24) and fullerenes found in a Planetary Nebula. The detection of graphenes and fullerenes around old stars as common as our Sun suggests that these molecules and other allotropic forms of carbon may be widespread in space. Credits: IAC; original image of the Helix Nebula (NASA, NOAO, ESA, the Hubble Helix Nebula Team, M. Meixner, STScI, & T.A. Rector, NRAO.)

In 2004, scientists at the University of Manchester first isolated and investigated graphene, the supermaterial composed of single-layer carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal honeycomb lattice. Since then, it has become a wonder, with properties that make it extremely useful in numerous applications. Among scientists, it is generally believed that about 1.9% of carbon in the interstellar medium (ISM) exists in the form of graphene, with its shape and structure determined by the process of its formation.

As it happens, there could be lots of this supermaterial on the surface of the Moon. In a recent study, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS) revealed naturally formed graphene arranged in a special thin-layered structure on the Moon. These findings could have drastic implications for our understanding of how the Moon formed and lead to new methods for the manufacture of graphene, with applications ranging from electronics, power storage, construction, and supermaterials. They could also prove useful for future missions that will create permanent infrastructure on the lunar surface.

May 10, 2024May 10, 2024 by Evan Gough

Here’s Where China’s Sample Return Mission is Headed

Chang'e-6 will land in the Apollo Basin inside the much larger SPA basin. Image Credit: Zeng et al. 2023.

Humanity got its first look at the other side of the Moon in 1959 when the USSR’s Luna 3 probe captured our first images of the Lunar far side. The pictures were shocking, pointing out a pronounced difference between the Moon’s different sides. Now China is sending another lander to the far side.

This time, it’ll bring back a sample from this long-unseen domain that could explain the puzzling difference.

March 30, 2024March 30, 2024 by Matt Williams

China's Relay Satellite is in Lunar Orbit

Animation of Queqiao-2 satellite establishing orbit around the Moon. Credit: CGTN

On March 20th, China’s Queqiao-2 (“Magpie Bridge-2”) satellite launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site LC-2 on the island of Hainan (in southern China) atop a Long March-8 Y3 carrier rocket. This mission is the second in a series of communications relay and radio astronomy satellites designed to support the fourth phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (Chang’e). On March 24th, after 119 hours in transit, the satellite reached the Moon and began a perilune braking maneuver at a distance of 440 km (~270 mi) from the lunar surface.

The maneuver lasted 19 minutes, after which the satellite entered lunar orbit, where it will soon relay communications from missions on the far side of the Moon around the South Pole region. This includes the Chang’e-4 lander and rover and will extend to the Chang’e-6 sample-return mission, which is scheduled to launch in May. It will also assist Chang’e-7 and -8 (scheduled for 2026 and 2028, respectively), consisting of an orbiter, rover, and lander mission, and a platform that will test technologies necessary for the construction of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS).