A few days ago, NASA announced a new plan, next February, will launch a lunar spacecraft, however, it will not carry astronauts, this is the United States "return to the moon" program in the experimental mission, if all goes well, then, in 2024, American astronauts will officially return to the moon.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="2" > NASA announced a new generation of heavy rockets, taller than Lady Liberty</h1>
Seeing that there are less than 4 months left before the first launch mission, NASA has already installed the main launch system, and the new generation of heavy rocket SLS and spacecraft Orion have reached a height of 98 meters. It's almost taller than the Statue of Liberty in the United States.
According to the information given by NASA, the SLS rocket will become the most important launch system in the future NASA space mission, at the same time, it is also the most advanced heavy rocket in the world, China's Long March 5, Long March 9, and SLS rockets, there is still a certain gap, of course, China's carrier rockets are also improving and developing.
It can be said that since the epidemic last year, in fact, the United States' plan to return to the moon has not been optimistic, many researchers believe that in 2024, the United States will not be able to return to the moon, but at present from NASA's plan, the return to the moon is still full of confidence, as to whether it can be carried out as scheduled, the main thing is to see whether the test flight in February next year can be successfully completed.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="22" > so why did NASA return to the moon? </h1>
In fact, the United States as the world's only moon landing country, between the 60s and 70s of the last century, the United States has successfully carried out 6 manned lunar landing missions, except for one of the halfway failures, resulting in mission failure, basically the success rate of the United States moon landing is more than 90%, it can be said that the technology of the moon landing is quite mature.
Don't forget, it's been more than 40 years since the last U.S. moon landing, and at that time, in addition to the former Soviet cosmonauts who went into space, in fact, the vast majority of countries on Earth, even their first satellites, have not yet gone to the sky.
It can be said that in terms of landing on the moon, the United States no longer needs to prove anything, the strength is there, so why has the United States suddenly restarted the moon landing plan after more than 40 years?
Speaking of which, this is actually related to the rapid development of science and technology in many countries, and in the future, human beings will exploit lunar resources and build bases on the moon.
If the United States landed on the moon in the last century to prove its strength and to crush the former Soviet Union in the "space race", then now the United States returns to the moon in order to seize the opportunity in the subsequent competition for lunar resources.
After all, in addition to the United States, other countries are also planning to land on the moon, and the two main opponents, one is Russia, and the other is China.
If the United States does not return to the moon, then, when the astronauts of other countries also land on the moon, then the United States will lose the opportunity, so only before other countries land on the moon, the United States once again returns to the moon, once again becomes the "first country to land on the moon" in the 21st century, then in the future lunar resource competition, the United States will have priority.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="23" > so when will China land on the moon? </h1>
In fact, the United States has always believed that China already has the ability to land on the moon, and if it wants to go to the moon, it is fully capable of landing on the moon before 2024, and the same is true for Russia.
However, from the current situation, China's manned moon landing will not be before 2024, because China's lunar exploration project is divided into 3 stages, and now the first and second phases have just been completed, and the third manned moon landing stage is a stage that has just started, and the ideal situation will probably be around 2028 to 2030.
At the same time, according to the lunar landing plan given by the Russian side, Russia's first manned lunar landing time is also around 2030, which also means that even if the United States successfully lands on the moon in 2024, there will be no astronauts from other countries standing on the moon in the short term.
In addition, like the United States, since it is a manned moon landing, then, in terms of carrier rockets, it is also necessary to use a new generation of rockets, at present, China's new generation of carrier rockets based on the Long March 5 - Long March 5DY, is also under development, it will also become the most powerful rocket in china's active service, as to whether it can surpass the United States today's most powerful new generation rocket SLS, it is not easy to say, but sending our astronauts to the moon, is absolutely no problem.
According to China's manned moon landing plan, after the Long March 5DY rocket is officially put into use, it will first carry the lunar lander, enter the orbit around the moon, and wait for the arrival of China's manned spacecraft, after which China's astronauts will take the lander, land on the moon, and carry out various activities on the moon.
Of course, China's manned moon landing program is not self-created, but borrows from the moon landing plan of the former Soviet Union in the last century, although the former Soviet Union did not successfully land on the moon, but the feasibility of this plan is still very high, wait and see!