Throughout the world, since the end of the Apollo moon landing program, no country has been able to successfully send astronauts to the moon, even the United States itself.
But as everyone knows, China already has this technology, and our space experts announced in May last year that China will achieve its first manned mission to the moon in 2030.
But it's puzzling that we have the technology now, so why wait until six years from now? What's the secret behind this?
China's aerospace strength
At present, with the mainland's current aerospace strength, it is fully capable of realizing a manned mission to the moon, and you must know that although we entered the aerospace industry relatively late, we have really experienced a 20-year growth process.
China's lunar exploration program has been deployed since 04, planning the "three steps to the moon", unmanned flight around the moon, manned landing on the moon, and building a station on the moon, obviously the first step has been achieved.
Since the Chang'e-1 probe successfully completed its first flight around the moon on October 24, 2007, Chang'e-2 has flown again after three years, this time not only completing the mission around the moon, but also photographing the accurate landforms of the lunar surface in a high-definition way.
It can be said that with this information, it is like having a map of lunar exploration, which has laid an important foundation for our future lunar exploration missions, and can realize the initiative to land wherever we want.
In the next three years, Chang'e-3 came again on the wind, with the foundation of Chang'e-2, this time it successfully achieved a soft landing on the moon, and the Yutu rover walked on the lunar surface perfectly, paving the way for human lunar exploration and sampling again.
On November 24, 2020, 13 years after the first flight around the moon, the relative technology is constantly improving and enhanced, and it is no surprise that we ushered in the successful landing of Chang'e-5 on the moon with the Long March 5.
That time also successfully completed the lunar sampling and successfully brought the samples back to the earth, and even the foothold was in the position expected by the designer, it can be said that with the successful launch of Chang'e-5, the mainland's aerospace technology has been very mature.
Also on May 3 this year, the mainland launched Chang'e-6 again, making a precondition for the realization of the second step of the lunar landing, that is, the realization of the manned lunar landing program.
As early as the middle of last year, the mainland's Ministry of Space solemnly announced that it would achieve the first manned mission to the moon in 2030.
However, daring to say this means that the mainland is now capable of achieving this task, but why should it be put on hold for another six or seven years?
Why 2030?
In fact, there are two considerations for setting the manned lunar landing plan to start in 2030, one of which is that China is prudent, after all, China has always been a country that wants to do the best.
Although the mainland already has a lot of technical reserves in the field of aerospace, how to ensure the safety of astronauts is a problem that cannot be ignored.
For example, the Chang'e-5 mission weighs less than 2 kilograms, and if the items are replaced by astronauts, it means that the probe needs to bear at least 150 kilograms of weight with people and equipment.
If you want to have a manned landing on the moon, this is a prerequisite that must be completed, and of course this problem is not so difficult to solve, you just need to transport enough fuel.
This will require the delivery of the capsule in batches or the construction of a more powerful rocket so that the lunar re-entry module will have enough fuel to successfully bring people back.
Therefore, from the current point of view, China has the ability to successfully send astronauts to the moon, but it lacks the realistic conditions of launch vehicles, and the relevant training of astronauts is not a problem for them.
However, it is worth mentioning that out of prudence, the country will also reasonably arrange the investment of the moon mission according to the country's financial strength, and will not burn money without restraint.
Some people may say how much money can be spent on the moon landing, and the country's aircraft carriers and warships have been built. You must know that the cost of the Apollo moon landing program in the United States is roughly about 25 billion US dollars, which is about 50 years ago, and you can imagine how much it will be today.
China's Chang'e program has already consumed $1.8 billion so far, and if it continues to complete the three steps of the moon landing, this may be the beginning.
But having said that, these external problems are not a difficult thing for the mainland, and the mainland will certainly make reasonable arrangements, and even if it is to build a carrier rocket "working overtime," it will not take six or seven years at all.
So there is another reason to postpone the time to 2030, and that is the conspiracy against the United States.
Strategic game against the United States
In recent years, the development of aviation on the mainland has been obvious to all in the world, and the United States, in particular, has long been afraid of China's progress, and with the announcement of China's moon landing program, the United States has also begun to hurry up with the pace after learning about it.
According to the global network, the United States is expected to re-launch the moon landing program in 2025 and 2026 at the latest, either to prove to the world that it is still the world hegemon, or simply to compete with China, apparently he is starting to sit still.
However, because the Apollo moon landing program of the United States has been questioned for a long time, and many people do not even believe that they have actually arrived on the moon, when the United States proposes this plan again, people will subconsciously feel that it is another conspiracy.
On the contrary, when China proposed that it would carry out a manned lunar landing program by 2030, many people expressed amazement and at the same time expressed confidence in China, thinking that China would do what it said and would not lie like the United States.
The most important reason also lies in whether there are enough talents, relative to financial resources, as the world hegemon Lao Mei is naturally not short of money, but for the selection of astronauts, the United States has entered the aging selection of talents.
At present, the average age of American astronauts has reached 53 years and above, what is this concept, it has lost the vitality of young people, compared to the difficult process of landing on the moon, whether these people can successfully overcome the difficulties is still a question.
On the contrary, China has been frequently engaged in space activities in recent years, and has also attached great importance to the cultivation and selection of qualified personnel, and the average age of mainland astronauts is about 20 years lower than that of the United States.
Therefore, it is not a simple matter for the United States to complete the moon landing program in a short period of time this time, and it is still unknown whether it can break through everyone's doubts and successfully implement it, and it still takes time to know.
But I have to say that every space program proposed by the mainland over the years will be carried out as promised, including when building aircraft carriers, and now it has long been realized, so the mainland has always had the credibility of doing what it says in the world, and it is not completely sure that the Chinese will not put it forward, and presumably this decision to implement a manned lunar mission in 2030 is also a sure thing.
As the saying goes, you can't eat fat people in one bite, the Americans are so self-confused, even if the moon landing is completed early, the cost will not be small, on the other hand, the mainland is steady and steady, always maintaining its own mode, I believe that soon the surface of the moon will leave the first footprints from the Chinese.
The author thinks
At present, mainland scientists have begun to gradually deploy the manned lunar landing mission and prepare for the preliminary work, the Long March 10, the Mengzhou manned spacecraft, and the lunar lander are being produced for testing, let us look forward to China's successful completion of the manned lunar landing mission in the future.
Resources:
Science and Technology Daily--2024-04-25--Realize the moon landing of Chinese before 2030
The Paper--2024-05-06--Review! What has Chang'e done in her 20 years of lunar exploration?
China Economic Net--2024-04-29--The United States has considerations for "setting a time" for the moon