CHINA plans to send two rockets to the moon by 2030, one carrying the spacecraft that will land on the surface and the other transporting the astronauts. Both the rockets will enter the moon’s orbit and after a successful docking the astronauts will enter the lunar lander to descend onto the moon’s surface, according to a preliminary plan released by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday. After the astronauts have completed their scientific tasks and collected samples, the lander will transport the astronauts back to the orbiting spacecraft, on which they will return to Earth, said Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer at the China Manned Space, at a summit in the Central Chinese city of Wuhan. Establishing lunar habitats could help support future crewed missions to other planets such as Mars. The last NASA crewed landing was in 1972, and U.S. astronauts are expected to return to the moon by 2025. In 2020, China brought back lunar samples from the moon on an uncrewed mission, making China the third nation to have retrieved lunar samples after the United States and the former Soviet Union. Chinese researchers are working on the development of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, a new generation of manned spacecraft, lunar lander, lunar landing spacesuit, manned lunar rover, and other equipment, said Zhang. The new carrier rocket will have three and a half stages with a carrying capacity of about 27 cubic tons to the lunar transfer orbit, and the rocket body is five meters in diameter. The new generation of manned spacecraft has three parts — an escape tower, a re-entry capsule, and a service capsule, Zhang said, adding that the new spaceship will employ module designs that can satisfy the needs of both near-Earth and deep-space explorations. The landing rover will consist of two parts — a landing section and a propulsion section, and can send two taikonauts to the lunar surface at the same time. The lunar rover will weigh 200 kg and can accommodate two taikonauts. In addition, the spacesuit being developed for the moon landing, with a single working time of no less than eight hours, will feature better mobilities to help taikonauts walk, climb, squat, drive, and operate machines. Zhang said China would also explore the construction of a lunar scientific research station and carry out systematic and long-term lunar exploration and related technical tests and verification. (SD-Xinhua) | 