Moon base to deep space: How China seeks to close gap with US

|
Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor
A Long March 2 rocket, with a Shenzhou-19 spacecraft atop, blasts off at 4:27 a.m. on Oct. 30 at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The three-person crew aboard is headed to China’s Tiangong space station.
  • Quick Read
  • Deep Read ( 5 Min. )

A rocket blasted into the night sky early Wednesday morning, shooting three young astronauts toward China’s space station – and propelling the country’s growing space ambitions.

China’s goal, revealed this month, is to become the world’s leader in key space fields by 2050. Its sweeping plan involves building a moon base, exploring deep space, and probing topics like the origins of the universe.

Why We Wrote This

The United States still dominates in space, but China’s star is rising. As the country’s latest crewed launch highlights a rapidly advancing space program, some wonder, Could China surpass the U.S.?

China began its space program later than the United States and Russia did, and had periods of rocky development. But today, the country is effectively catching up, with postponed projects now reaching fruition, experts say.

Some U.S. officials have cast Beijing as a competitive threat, warning that China could exclude other countries from important lunar terrain and resources.

Indeed, China is pushing ahead with plans to put an astronaut on the moon by 2030 – which would make it only the second country to do so – and officials predict some of the young astronauts aboard Wednesday’s space flight could work from a future lunar base.

“The last few years have gone really, really well for them,” says astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell. “All this stuff they have had waiting ... now they can actually do it.”

With a fiery blaze, a Chinese Long March 2 rocket blasted into a starry night sky from this remote corner of Inner Mongolia early Wednesday, shooting three Chinese astronauts toward China’s space station – and propelling the country’s growing space ambitions.

China’s goal, revealed in an official blueprint announced this month, is to become the world’s leader in key space fields by 2050. Its sweeping plan extends in scope from exploring the moon, Mars, and deep space, and probes topics like the origins of the universe, quantum mechanics, habitable planets, and extraterrestrial life.

“We are extremely confident,” says Li Yingliang, chief of general technology of the China Manned Space Agency, speaking with reporters at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China on the eve of Wednesday’s launch, China’s 14th crewed launch and 33rd overall. “Every aspect of our [space] technology is getting more mature by the day.”

Why We Wrote This

The United States still dominates in space, but China’s star is rising. As the country’s latest crewed launch highlights a rapidly advancing space program, some wonder, Could China surpass the U.S.?

China began its crewed space program in the early 1990s, later than the United States and Russia did, and had periods of rocky development and long delays. But today, China’s advances are such that it is effectively catching up, with key postponed projects now reaching fruition, experts say. Officials predict some of the young astronauts aboard Wednesday’s space flight could work from a future Chinese base on the moon.

“The last few years have gone really, really well for them,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge and expert on China’s space program. “All this stuff they have had waiting ... now they can actually do it.”

Ng Han Guan/AP
Chinese astronauts (from left to right) Wang Haoze, Song Lingdong, and Cai Xuzhe wave during the see-off ceremony for the Shenzhou-19 mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, in the early hours of Oct. 30.

A cosmic competitor?

China has entered “the fast lane” of science innovation, Wang Chi, director of the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told a Beijing press conference announcing the country’s space plan on Oct. 15. According to the blueprint, China will be able to make important breakthroughs in space science by 2027, “rank among the international forefront ... in 2035, and become a world space science power by 2050,” he said.

Indeed, as China makes rapid advances in space exploration, some top U.S. space officials have increasingly cast Beijing as a competitive threat. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has warned, for example, that China could dominate key terrain and resources on the moon and exclude other countries.

“There is definitely potential for tension there,” although it is not inevitable, says Dr. McDowell. “If one country has an extensive functioning base and the other doesn’t, then ... that country is likely to determine standards.”

Chinese officials downplay such competition. Mr. Nelson’s “worries are unnecessary,” says Mr. Li.

Still, whether in parallel or in competition, China is pushing ahead its near-term plans to put an astronaut on the moon by 2030, which would make it only the second country to do so after the U.S. China also plans to build a moon base in coming years – as does the U.S.

“We want to put a person on the moon as soon as possible,” says Zhang Wei, director of the Utilization Development Department of the Space Applications Technology and Engineering Center at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor
Within the blue scaffolding, a Long March 2 rocket is filled with propellant prior to the launch Oct. 29 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

Lunar ambitions

China is already chalking up global firsts in its moon exploration program. In June, for example, a Chinese lunar lander named Chang’e 6 successfully collected rocks and soil from the moon’s far side – something no other country has done – and returned them to earth for study. In 2020, the Chang’e 5 spacecraft brought back lunar soil samples from the moon’s near side.

China recently revealed that it is manufacturing “moon bricks” that simulate soil collected from the moon’s surface and could be used as possible building blocks for a future lunar base. The crew of the just-launched Shenzhou-19 mission, which docked safely at China’s space station on Wednesday, will perform durability tests on some of those bricks.

Such steps are important, experts say, as both China and the U.S. work toward building moon bases in what is considered prime lunar territory such as the moon’s South Pole, where it is believed water is trapped in rocks. “What might matter is if China establishes a base on the south pole before the U.S. and claims the territory,” says Dr. McDowell.

China plans to launch two more Chang’e lunar lander missions to the moon’s south pole in 2026 and 2028 that will carry out resource surveys and create a scientific research station. It is also developing a lunar rover vehicle, and researching ways to safely lengthen its astronaut deployments beyond the current six months. In September, it unveiled the design for its first lunar spacesuit, a lightweight one.

Ann Scott Tyson/The Christian Science Monitor
A crowd of schoolchildren and other well-wishers gather to send off the crew of China’s Shenzhou-19 crewed space mission Oct. 30. at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.

Relay race

A critical element of China’s crewed space program, experts say, is the steady, cumulative experience of its multiple generations of astronauts – a strength in full display in the run-up to Wednesday’s launch.

In the chilly darkness Wednesday morning, a cheering crowd of hundreds of Chinese schoolchildren and other well-wishers crowded bleachers as the Shenzhou-19’s three-person crew strode out in spacesuits, waving, as a band played a patriotic Chinese song.

“We learn from the astronauts! We salute the astronauts!” read a huge red banner with yellow Chinese characters.

The crew is commanded by veteran astronaut Cai Xuzhe, who took part in an earlier space station mission in 2022. Accompanying him are two younger astronauts from what China calls its “90s” generation, former air force pilot Song Lingdong and senior flight engineer Wang Haoze, who is only the third woman to carry out a crewed space mission in China.

“Manned spaceflight is a relay race,” Commander Cai told a press conference on the eve of the launch. Generations of astronauts and thousands of aerospace workers are taking part toward a single goal, he says: “Glory for the country.”

Yet even as the space race intensifies, Chinese officials acknowledged their many hurdles ahead, and voiced hopes for more international cooperation.

While China’s lunar landing mission is going smoothly now, “We are soberly aware that the ... technology is complex ... and the challenges are huge,” says Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency. Ahead of the launch, he also praised NASA’s “high regard for the safety of its astronauts” and extended China’s “best wishes for the safe return” of two U.S. astronauts delayed at the International Space Station.

China and the United States “both want to further humanity through space exploration,” says Mr. Li, the chief of general technology, recalling past extensive dialogues between China’s agency and NASA. “We hope we can carry out more practical cooperation and exchanges with the U.S. and other countries.”

Editor’s note: This article, originally published Oct. 30, was updated Nov. 6 to correct the spelling of Wang Haoze’s name.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Give us your feedback

We want to hear, did we miss an angle we should have covered? Should we come back to this topic? Or just give us a rating for this story. We want to hear from you.

 

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Moon base to deep space: How China seeks to close gap with US
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2024/1030/China-space-program-manned-launch
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe