I started this blog with a series of articles about the Chinese space program. My last blog covered a report on Chinese work to militarize space by creating satellites and ground based weapons that could damage or destroy the satellites of enemies in times of war. Liu Jizhong, the director of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program , recently gave a speech about Chinese peaceful plans for the Moon and other space missions. Today I am going to share some of the ideas mentioned in Liu's presentation.
The Chinese have already put a rover on the Moon and launched many low Earth orbit missions. They have plans for lunar exploration and lunar bases, Mars missions, asteroid exploration and exploitation and other deep space missions. Liu said "When exploring the unknown, we should not just follow others. China should be more creative." The Chinese seem to feel that they will not be respected as a "space power" until they launch space missions that accomplish what no other country has done.
Liu mentioned plans to put landers on the side of the Moon that faces away from the Earth and on the lunar poles. China plans to place satellites in orbit around the Moon to explore the north and south poles and provide communication for lunar far side missions. It is possible that there is water ice on the lunar poles that could be used for manned lunar bases which are also in the Chinese plans. China has settled on sending both robots and human beings on space missions.
Liu proposed a heavy-lift launch vehicle that could carry a payload of 220,462 pounds that could be used to construct and supply a manned lunar base as well as launch deep space missions to Mars and asteroids. This launch vehicle would be much bigger than current heavy-lift launch vehicles being used by space-faring nations. As an example, the Falcon Heavy launch vehicle being developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX for use on commercial space missions will only be able to life about half of the proposed Chinese payload.
Liu suggested that ant-like exploratory vehicles would be more flexible for lunar exploration than current lunar rovers. Robotic ants would have feet instead of the wheels used by lunar rovers. The feet would make it easier for them to move over uneven terrain. The small size would reduce the need for big landers to carry full sized rovers to the lunar surface. The Chinese are researching robots that have two, four and six feet. The comparison to ants is based on the fact that the research has revealed that a robot with six feet has advantages in mobility and flexibility in the complex lunar environment. Mass manufacture would lower the cost of each robot so more could be deployed. These robots could also assist in the exploration of asteroids.
Liu also said that he wanted his team to develop faster propulsion techniques to enable deep-space probes to reach their destinations more quickly than is possible today.
Chinese Lunar Exploration Program logo:
