On July 9th, the 100-year-old Chinese Scientists Theme Exhibition "The Spirit of the Times Shines on the River" held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre was successfully concluded.
The exhibition highlights part of the lunar soil brought back to Earth by the Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-5 from the moon, as well as a miniature version of the "Chang'e-5" model, which is very novel to the public.
▲ Chang'e-5 successfully brought back 2 kilograms of lunar soil to the earth in December last year, and some of the lunar soil came to Hong Kong with a delegation of national scientists earlier and was publicly exhibited at the Convention and Exhibition Center
▲ Lunar soil sample, the particle texture is fine, mainly composed of oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium and other elements, does not contain any organic components, and is very dry
Since December 2, 2013, in less than a decade, China has launched Chang'e three times to the moon. In fact, this is the only three probe landings on the moon this century.
With the help of image data transmitted back from light years away, the world's understanding of the moon has gradually become clear from blurred, and it has also witnessed China's ambitions in the field of spaceflight.
Chang'e-5 Orbiter, Lander and Ascent Model (1:2)
In 2019, Chang'e-4 successfully landed on the back of the moon, and China became the first country in the world to land a probe with its side of the moon forever with its back to the earth;
In 2020, Chang'e 5 successfully completed the return of lunar soil sampling, marking the complete success of China's "orbiting back" and also marking China's third country with the ability to sample the moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
▲Lunar sample sealing device, using titanium alloy and aluminum alloy to ensure structural strength and rigidity, while minimizing weight
"The great things in the world must be done in detail." Zhang Xi, executive director of the Chang'e-4 detector project, pointed out that Chang'e-5 is the most complex detector in the world so far, with hundreds of scientific research institutions and hundreds of thousands of scientific researchers invested in it, which is a collection of Chinese scientific research work and represents the highest level of China's lunar exploration.
Regarding the future development of the lunar exploration project, Zhang Xi said that China will continue to implement the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project, establish an international lunar research station at the south pole of the moon, and hope to further explore the lunar resources through probes near the south pole, such as exploring solid water, to determine whether there is an environment suitable for human survival.
China is also carrying out advance research on manned lunar landings, and it is believed that In the near future, Chinese astronauts will also land on the moon.
At present, the United States is still the first and only country on Earth to let astronauts land on the moon
For a country, having the ability to explore the moon marks a strong technical strength, but also must have considerable financial and human resources.
With China's continuous extraordinary achievements in the field of lunar landing, the world has also set off a new wave of "lunar exploration". In addition to the United States, China and Russia, the European Space Agency, Japan, Israel and India are also conducting lunar exploration projects.
International public opinion generally believes that the lunar exploration results of Chang'e-5 will further promote human scientific research on the moon and is of great significance to international space cooperation.
The U.S. "Apollo" moon landing program, which began in the 1960s, cost $25 billion that year and involved 400,000 people
In addition to the nine days of lunar conquest, China has also achieved something that only the United States and the Soviet Union have achieved for a short time: landing on Mars
American space writer and scholar Goswamy has described China's space exploration capabilities as an alternative to space leadership roles alongside those of the United States.
Senator Angus King of Maine said: "This confirms that the United States no longer has space alone." ”
At present, China already has its own space station, and on June 17, the three astronauts of Shenzhou 12 entered the Tianhe core module of the Tiangong Space Station
However, today's Chinese aerospace lunar exploration, which operates such a "show", was a single wooden bridge in those days.
In the 1990s, when the International Space Station was being built, China was unable to join the ranks under the blockade and obstruction of the West, led by the United States. For more than 20 years, China has not been able to join the International Space Station program, and the blockade and ban have not stopped.
The United States has been deliberately excluding China in the space field, and in 2011 the U.S. Congress passed the proposal of former Rep. Wolff, which explicitly prohibits NASA from any form of technical exchange with China; the Idea of the European Space Agency preparing to invite China to join the International Space Station in 2010 naturally ended; NASA even refused To allow Chinese researchers to participate in the International Astronomical Conference on the grounds of "national security".
▲ In 2019, the Artemis plan led by the United States aims to send American astronauts back to the moon by 2024, and 7 countries such as Europe, Japan, Britain, Canada and Australia were invited to participate, but China and Russia, which have the ability to participate in the plan, are excluded
Cooperation is banned, technology is blocked, and when the ban spreads from the political field to scientific research, China, facing full-scale pressure, can only resist the pressure of blockade and go out of a space road on its own.
Shenzhou, Chang'e, Beidou, Tiangong... Generation after generation of astronauts have used their knowledge and experience to create a space journey belonging to China. The exclusion and isolation of the Western powers not only failed to curb the development of China's space technology, but also prevented US allies from carrying out space cooperation with China.
▲ Tianwen-1 has the participation of the European Space Agency, France, Austria, argentina space department
Even foreign astronauts are beginning to learn our language.
In 2013, Alfonso Cuarón's film "Gravity" included a scene in which an American astronaut played by Sandra Bullock wanted to return to Earth smoothly after a series of accidents, but because he could not understand Chinese the operation interface could only be pressed randomly.
▲ Stills from the movie "Gravity"
In order not to make the embarrassing predictions in the film come true, three astronauts from Germany, France and Italy are working intensively to learn Chinese, with the goal of boarding the Chinese space station from 2022.
Although China is still lagging behind the United States in the space field, NASA's space probe New Horizons sent back a picture of an asteroid "End of the World" 6.5 billion kilometers away from Earth as Chang'e-4 sent back photos of the back of the moon.
▲ NASA found water and organic molecules at the end of the world
However, China Aerospace wins in the spirit of long-term goals, unremitting efforts, adherence to research and development, and down-to-earth.
The counterattack Shuangwen, which belongs to China's aerospace, has just begun to be composed.
Follow the movie Moon Quest
Since ancient times, the moon has carried a mysterious and romantic imagery, because of the countless literary and artistic works derived. Long before humans explored the universe, which was light years away, movies about the moon were born.
Journey to the Moon is a French black-and-white silent film shot in 1902 with a 14-minute length and a Douban score of 9.1.
▲ The original film of the movie "Moon Journey"
It is considered the pioneering work of science fiction films and the world's earliest moon landing film.
▲ The film is roughly based on the novels "From the Earth to the Moon" and "The First Man to land on the Moon", adapted and directed by Georges Méliès
The film tells a series of absurd stories such as 6 brave astronomers flying from the earth to the moon in a cannonball and encountering aliens on the moon. It not only presents the infinite imagination of outer space in that era, but also satirizes the conservative scientific community at that time.
Méliès wanted to take the film to the United States for greater commercial gain, but Thomas Edison secretly copied the film after seeing it in London, and the large amount of money he earned after the release in the United States belonged to Edison. Merrie did not receive anything and declared bankruptcy a few years later.
When "Journey to the Moon" was released, it was only 7 years since the birth of the first film in history, and the movies that the audience had seen before were almost all single scene fragments, and there were few complete narratives.
The story of "Journey to the Moon" is vivid and interesting, and Mériès, known as the "cinemagician", applies his rich stage experience to the production of the film, integrating a large number of stage special effects, including the disappearance of the character after the smoke, the cannon landing on the moon table and other pictures, bringing the audience a variety of surprises.
▲ Stills from "Journey to the Moon"
"Journey to the Moon" laid the foundation for many classic elements of science fiction movies, such as the ironic and playful tone, clumsy scientists, alien creatures, disregard for the laws of physics and other original concepts that have been used to this day.
At the beginning of the last century, people could not imagine that the flying cannon in the film had become the foreshadowing of the rocket launch in later generations, and the science fiction fairy tales that once seemed out of reach or even wishful thinking had now become a reality.
Then in 1929, Fritz Lang, the director of Metropolis, made a romantic comedy film, Chang'e in the Moon.
▲ The German movie "Chang'e in the Moon" has a Douban score of 7.9 and is 156 minutes long
The story tells the story of several researchers and gold prospectors who go on a spaceship expedition to the moon with their own purposes, where a dispute over the discovery of gold sparks a gunfight.
The bullet accidentally hit the spacecraft's oxygen tank, and the remaining oxygen did not allow everyone to return safely. One of them eventually volunteered to stay on the moon, and the female astronomer was willing to stay out of love for him.
▲ Stills of "Chang'e in the Moon"
Rather than the moon landing, the film is more of a hodgepodge of side stories such as gold rush, gunfights, love triangles, and more.
It must be mentioned that the film's portrayal of the countdown to the rocket launch and the lack of gravity in space are very advanced, and it is reported that the Nazi government at that time felt that the film was too real and prevented its release.
▲ I don't know if future generations of scientists have taken inspiration from the movie
Compared with the lunar space special effects that were still young in the early 90s films, the "2001 Space Odyssey" screen released in 1968 was cross-era realistic.
Stanley Kubrick's footage, from the spacecraft to the lunar surface, gave people a real idea of what the moon would look like.
▲ "2001: A Space Odyssey" Douban Movie TOP250 ranked 199
The story takes place in 2001, when humans embarked on a jupiter landing program in search of the roots of Blackstone on Earth. The ship features three hibernating astronauts, Captain David (Kyle Durra), Pilot Frank (Gary Lockwood), and a highly intelligent computer called the HAL9000.
HAL went haywire during the spaceflight, killing Frank and three hibernating personnel, leaving Boman to fight the computer.
Returning from the death line, David shut down the main brain system in one breath, hal completely failed, and only David was left in the vast universe to march to Jupiter. Through the magnificent stargate, David seems to go to a strange time and space, where there is an endless cycle of life and death of human beings and the ultimate knowledge of the universe...
▲ Stills from "2001: A Space Odyssey"
The film was a huge production full of philosophical propositions that Kubrick spent four years making, and because the special effects in it were too realistic, the United States landed on the moon in 1969 the following year, and there are still people who suspect that the moon landing was actually a fake scam in the studio.
This shows the shock brought by this movie at the beginning.
▲ Apollo "scam said": Someone found that the mask of the astronaut in the film of the "Apollo 17" lunar mission reflected a figure without a space suit
With the realization of the moon landing and the gradual clarity of human understanding of space, the mystery of the moon and outer space in the film has gradually faded.
In the 21st century, the moon in film and television works has also changed from an unknown planet waiting to be explored to an outer space stronghold for the development of the military or the end of the world, and the story about the moon has added a little political color.
In 2009, Duncan Jones, a director who was unknown at the time, and Sam Rockwell, an actor with excellent acting skills, shocked the science fiction film industry with a small-budget science fiction drama film, which won multiple international film awards - "Moon".
▲ "Moon" Douban score 8.5
The story tells that in the future of energy crisis and global warming, a company began mining minerals on the moon that could refine the helium triisotope helium-3 as a non-toxic and harmless new energy source, so space operator Sam was sent to the lunar mine for mining operations.
Lonely Sam repeats his regular work day after day, the only thing that accompanies him is a highly intelligent robot Getty, and his greatest spiritual sustenance is to communicate with the beloved wife and daughter on Earth through a semi-faulty communication device.
▲ Gerty, a robot with a gentle voice
However, as the contract was about to expire, Sam was physically and mentally in a different state.
He is unexpectedly unconscious while mining, and after being awakened by Getty, Sam finds a man who looks exactly like himself in the mine outside the base, with the same identity, memory, and emotions, and a series of suspenseful mysteries emerge, is the person a fictional phantom or a real living body?
▲ Stills from "The Moon"
In 2012, Finland, Germany and Australia co-produced a science fiction comedy film "Steel Sky".
It tells the story of the Nazi Party fleeing to the far side of the moon to secretly develop a black technology military in parallel time and space, and establishing a military base on the far side of the moon, planning to attack Earth decades later.
In the film, Nazi scientists work day and night to study technology and improve weapons, in a vain attempt to re-establish troops on the moon and counterattack the earth
The film is full of black humor and political irony, such as the president of the United States who uses the first black man on the moon to use a gimmick to win re-election; the Nazi scientist who studies with an antique computer that is a thousand times slower than the operation of a mobile phone; the president who learns oratory skills from the Nazis for election propaganda; the League of Nations that wins the battle and turns his face after learning that there are a lot of resources on the moon...
Finally, don't forget to use a star war to satisfy people's imagination of the moon.
▲ Stills of "Steel Sky"
In May 2020, when US President Trump had previously established a new service "Space Force", the Netflix writers and directors immediately took advantage of the title to launch a comedy series with a bit of absurdity - "Space Force".
▲ "Space Force" single episode is 30 minutes long and has a total of 10 episodes
The series tells the story of the male protagonist Mark Ned has just been promoted to four-star general in the Air Force, coinciding with the Trump administration's decision to establish a new service, so Ned has the honor of becoming the first chief of staff of the US Space Force.
He and a group of brilliant scientists and astronauts were sent to the moon to achieve American dominance in space.
Interestingly, the last episode of the series is against the Chinese Space Force, which is also camped on the moon, because the Chinese lunar rover has flagging the American flag left by the American Apollo moon landing
Film and television works always draw inspiration from the torrent of the times, once curious about the moon, and now it is the competition between China and the United States in the field of space.
In addition to the "Space Force" drama that balances comedy and serious military issues, as China's "Chang'e" moon landing once made history, some people began to be interested in the folklore behind its naming, starting with Chinese culture and traditional stories.
In 2020, Netflix and Oriental DreamWorks co-produced an animated film "Flying to the Moon", which tells the adventure story of a Chinese girl Fifi who finds Chang'e by building a moon rocket. The film delves into the importance of family, tradition and progress.
▲ "Rush to the Moon" won the top spot on Netflix within a weekend of release
Our "Chang'e" project is also like the Chinese culture that has been passed down to this day, preserving traditions and encouraging progress.
It is believed that China's follow-up lunar exploration project will also be rooted in China's mythology, do not forget the original intention, aim high, build a dream starry sky with the spirit of lunar exploration, and forge ahead with a fighting attitude.
Photo by Skylar
Edited by: Skylar, Autumn Fruit