China’s Moon‑Tastic Roadmap: From Rover Drops to Citizen‑Powered Mars
Picture this: a glittering spaceship hissed out of the sky, trudging to the Moon’s sultry south pole to set up an interstellar lab. In the next ten years, Beijing is on a mission to make the Moon an extension of our own research playground. A big shout‑out from Zhang Kejian, the chief of the Chinese National Space Administration, who dropped the news while celebrating Space Day.
Why the Moon? Because Earth is 3/4 full of traffic congestion
- China didn’t wait for the final call to command the cosmos – January of this year already saw the world’s first rover landed on the far side of the Moon.
- Next up, a robotic station at the Moon’s rosy‑red south pole – the new “Science Hotspot” on the lunar map, slated for launch within a decade.
- “We’re aiming for space super‑power status!” Zhang joked, because it looks cooler to be the first to pop a science lab onto the Moon.
It’s Not Just About the Moon
- Beijing’s also tracking Mars, with a probe earmarked for 2020 – because gravity calls for a full‑stack exploration.
- The Chang’e‑5 shuttle, originally set for 2017, is finally getting its chance. The previous launch hiccup was blamed on a rocket tantrum that failed during a 2017 flight.
- New Long March‑5B rockets are primed for a debut mid‑2020, carrying the core pieces of what will become the Tiangong (“Heavenly Palace”) station.
Space Station: Why Build a New ISS?
Tiangong is slated to orbit by 2022, a sleek replacement for the bustling International Space Station (ISS). The ISS’s grand retirement is set for 2024 – an opportune moment for China to usher in a fresh, independent frontier in orbit.
Collaboration Alert!
One of the latest charms: China has opened up an asteroid exploration mission to the global community. “Drop your experiments here,” they say, encouraging allies to hop aboard the probe for a cosmic lab adventure. Previous Chang’e‑4 missions already tasted international cooperation, featuring gear from Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden.
The Bottom Line: Finance Meets Ambition
- China now juggles more money into civil and military space programs than Russia and Japan combined.
- In 2017 alone, the Department budgeted a whopping $8.4 billion – a figure that flips the OECD’s rollercoaster.
- That puts China in second place, just behind the United States, in the race for space supremacy.
All in all, the Chinese space playbook sketches a bold, propulsive leap from satellites to experiments in the cosmos. Whether it’s a moon research station, a Mars foray, or a collaborative asteroid adventure, the world is in the waiting seat, eyes glued to the launch pads that promise new frontiers. Let’s see who’s first to plant the next human flag… or at least, a science laptop, on the Moon’s southern edge.
