For a long time to come, human space exploration will focus on the moon, mainly the U.S.-led Artemis program and the Sino-Russian International Lunar Research Station project. While China has always pursued a win-win approach to space exploration, the United States does not see it that way, and they see China as an adversary and competitor.
For example, Nelson, the head of NASA, often openly slanders China's aerospace, as if the United States' exploration of the moon is for the benefit of mankind, while China's exploration of the moon is "enclosure", a consistent double standard!
There are rare helium three resources on the moon, which can become a clean nuclear energy source for human controllable nuclear fusion technology, in addition to the moon, the moon will also become a transit station or springboard for human deep space exploration in the future, starting from the moon for deep space exploration, saving money, effort and time, which is also the fundamental reason why countries focus on exploring the moon.
At present, the fourth phase of China's lunar exploration program has been officially launched, and the Queqiao-2 relay satellite has completed its deployment after its successful launch, and it has already carried out communication tests with Chang'e-4 on the far side of the moon and Chang'e-6 on the earth.
According to the plan, Chang'e-6 will be launched during the May Day period, which is the most complex space exploration mission in human history.
The fourth phase of the lunar exploration project will be followed by Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8, which will go to the south pole of the moon to find water resources and build the basic type of the international lunar research station, which is also an important task to be completed in the fourth phase of the entire lunar exploration project, so far nearly 20 countries and international organizations have actively participated in the international lunar research station project!
Of course, not only is the Sino-Russian cooperation in the International Lunar Research Station project attracting the participation of many partners, but the Artemis program of the United States is also constantly "recruiting", the United States leads the return to the moon program, and the rest of the participating countries need to show their "sincerity" in exchange for part of the "cake" of the manned landing on the moon!
In fact, it is similar to the International Space Station project, with money and power to help the United States operate the space experiment station. And the Artemis project is about the same, you can take you to the moon once if you pay more!
Recently, according to media reports, NASA signed an agreement with JAXA for Japan to design, develop and operate a pressurized lunar rover for manned lunar landing and unmanned lunar exploration, and in return the United States will provide Japan with two opportunities to go to the lunar surface.
According to NASA, the United States will no longer walk on the moon alone, but with more partners to land people on the moon, some netizens can't help but joke: It's better to say than to sing!
But there is no way, many countries believe in this operation of the United States. It is reported that the pressurized lunar rover built by Japan will be put into use in the Artemis 7 mission, with Japan responsible for designing, building and operating, and NASA responsible for launching and using.
Due to the particularity of the lunar environment, it is impossible for human beings to be active on the surface of the moon for a long time, there is no atmosphere on the moon close to an absolute vacuum, and the gravity is only one-sixth of that on the moon, and it is not practical to walk on the moon for long distances, so astronauts need a means of transportation on the moon.
During the Apollo manned moon landing, Apollo 15, 16, and 17 all carried lunar rovers to the moon, and astronauts drove lunar rovers to the moon for long-distance roaming on the lunar surface!
The new era of manned lunar landing also needs to be upgraded, that is, the planned pressurized lunar rover, near the south pole of the moon can take two astronauts for up to 30 days to walk the moon, each lunar rover can even reach 10 years of life, to help astronauts move the lunar surface and assist in scientific research!
Of course, the ideal is very plump, the reality is very skinny, and the Artemis program, which has been high-profile to return to the moon, has only been launched once so far, that is, in Artemis I, the mission has completed an unmanned flight around the moon, and the follow-up Artemis II will carry out a manned flight around the moon, which is similar to Apollo 8 more than half a century ago.
When Artemis III is the real manned landing on the moon, it is difficult to say when it will take place. NASA's commercial lunar payload mission has been carried out twice this year, one a complete failure and one barely successful, and it is for this reason that the Artemis program has been postponed again for a truly manned landing on the moon.
So will the United States be able to achieve a manned landing on the moon before 2030? No matter what the answer is, it is worth looking forward to China's manned landing on the moon anyway!
Text/Singularity Three minutes, the picture source is invaded and deleted on the Internet.