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https://theconversation.com/with-its-latest-moon-mission-success-chinas-space-programme-has-the-us-in-its-sights-233792>
"June 25 2024 marked a new “first” in the history of spaceflight. China’s
robotic Chang’e 6 spacecraft delivered samples of rock back to Earth from a
huge feature on the Moon called the south pole–Aitken basin. After touching
down on the Moon’s “far side”, on the southern rim of the Apollo crater,
Chang’e 6 came back with around 1.9kg of rock and soil, according to the China
National Space Administration (CNSA).
The Moon’s south pole is designated as the location for the future China-led
International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). This truly international endeavour
has partners including Russia, Venezuela, South Africa and Egypt, and is being
coordinated by an ad hoc kind of international space agency.
China has a strategic plan to build a space economy and become the world leader
in this field. It intends to explore and extract minerals from asteroids and
bodies such as the Moon, and to use water ice and any other useful space
resources available in our Solar System.
China aims to explore the Moon first, then the asteroids known as near-Earth
objects (NEOs). It will then move on to Mars, the asteroids between Mars and
Jupiter (known as the main belt asteroids), and Jupiter’s moons, using the
stable gravitional points in space known as Lagrange points for its space
stations.
One of China’s next steps in this strategy, the robotic Chang’e 7 mission, is
expected to launch in 2026. It will land on the illuminated rim of the Moon’s
Shackleton crater, very close to the lunar south pole. The rim of this large
crater has a point that is constantly illuminated, in a region where the angle
of the Sun casts long shadows that obscure much of the landscape.
As a landing site, it is particularly attractive – not only because of the
illumination, but the easy access it offers to the interiors of the crater.
These shadowed craters hold vast reserves of water ice, which will be
indispensable in building and operating the ILRS, as the water can be used for
drinking water, oxygen and rocket fuel.
It is a bold move, as the US also has ambitions to establish bases at the
Moon’s south pole – the Shackleton crater is prime real estate. A later Chinese
mission, Chang’e 8 (currently planned for no earlier than 2028), will aim to
extract ice and other resources and demonstrate that it’s possible to use them
to support a human outpost. Both Chang’e 7 and 8 are considered part of ILRS
and will set the scene for an impressive Chinese exploration programme."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
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mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
