The dream of colonizing the moon has been shelved for half a century. With the advancement of China's Chang'e project, it is once again remembered by the world. The dream of running the moon is no longer far away, and in the next 30 years, we will watch it come true step by step.
Dream of the Moon
In May 1978, then-U.S. National Security Adviser Brzezinski arrived in China to finalize more details on the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between the United States and China. Among Brzezinski's gifts to China, the most valuable is 1 gram of lunar soil. Half a gram of it was handed over to Ouyang Ziyuan, who was 43 years old at the time, for research. With this half-gram of lunar soil, Ouyang Ziyuan's team published 14 papers, which analyzed the geological conditions of the soil source in detail.
△ May 1978 Deng Xiaoping met with Brzezinski
42 years later, Chang'e's father, Ouyang Ziyuan, witnessed the successful recovery of Chang'e-5 and brought back 1,731 grams of new lunar soil samples for China.
On July 12, 2021, the China National Space Administration and the Chinese Academy of Sciences jointly held the first batch of lunar scientific research sample distribution ceremony in Beijing, and distributed 31 samples to 13 scientific research institutions, with a total of 17.4764 grams. On average, each institution obtained a sample mass of 1.34 grams. The remaining 1,700 grams of samples will be shared with research institutions in China and around the world in accordance with the Measures for the Administration of Lunar Samples, announced earlier this year.
△ The first lunar scientific research sample distribution ceremony
According to the current plan, the first step of the lunar exploration project in the Chang'e project has entered the end. Around 2030, Chinese is expected to land on the moon for the first time. The United States has not set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Today, the two countries are once again moving towards the manned moon landing, and there is a hint of competition. But the goal is not only to step on the moon, but to base on the moon and immigrate to the moon.
Migration to the Moon Timeline
When did humans live on the moon? The European Space Agency, which works closely with both U.S. and Chinese space agencies, has given a timeline for immigrating to the moon:
Around 2025, humans will return to the moon and stay for two weeks.
In 2030, the staff will stay for 6 months to 1 year, just like the current International Space Station, where humans will remain present on the moon.
In 2040, about 100 people will live on the moon.
In 2057, there will be a lunar settlement of 10,000 people, and there may even be a first lunar republic.
To achieve this goal, in addition to the technology of manned spaceflight, more detailed preparation is needed.
For example, if you want to live in a house, you must first have a way to repair the house. There has to be a way to produce food on the moon.
China has taken the first steps in plant cultivation on the moon. On January 3, 2019, Chang'e-4 landed on the far side of the moon, which no one had ever set foot on. Two days later, the cotton seeds in Chang'e-4 were successfully sprouted, becoming the first plant to grow on the moon.
△ The first cotton plant to sprout on the moon
The European Space Agency, on the other hand, has been working hard to build houses.
The soil of the moon is particularly thin, as fine as powder, italian inventor Dini used the principle of 3D printing to create a 6-meter-high behemoth, which can press the lunar soil into bricks, and use liquid reagents to form the shape of a honeycomb, as a solid brick to build the shell of the lunar base to resist the attack of radiation and tiny meteorites.
However, it is impossible to send this behemoth to the moon, and Dini hopes that later generations can miniaturize and intelligentize this device and send it to the moon to work on their own. When someone settles on the moon, the robot can directly hand over the keys to the house into the hands of the person.
△ Dini's 3D printed lunar architectural concept map
International cooperation
Whether it is lunar scientific research or the specific implementation of the plan to immigrate to the moon, it is difficult to complete it perfectly with the strength of one country. The exploration of space is for the common development of all mankind, not the interests of one person and one country. Take Chang'e-4's lunar rover Yutu-2, for example, the probe that monitors the universe on Yutu-2 is from the Netherlands, the instrument for detecting mineral deposits is from Germany, and the equipment for measuring solar wind examples comes from Switzerland. These achievements are not only a big step for China, but also a grand event for the global scientific community.
At the "Global Space Exploration Conference 2021" held on June 16, 2021, China and Russia jointly announced the first phase of the roadmap for cooperation in the construction of the "International Lunar Research Station" on the lunar surface or in lunar orbit, and it is planned to carry out six lunar exploration missions between 2021 and 2025. European countries such as France have expressed their desire to participate.
△ Tiangong space station Tianhe core module
According to the current plan, the international space station that is in operation will be maintained until 2024. If no new budget or update plans are added, the space station will be abandoned later, and China's Tiangong will become the only operating space station. Many European astronauts are also actively learning Chinese, conducting joint training with Chinese space agencies, and looking forward to boarding Chinese space stations and even participating in future space programs.
The dream of emigrating to the moon was shelved for half a century. With the advancement of China's Chang'e project, it is once again remembered by the world. The dream of running the moon is no longer far away, and in the next 30 years, we will watch it come true step by step.
July 17 at 21:40 p.m
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Migration to the Moon - Transcript of Lunar Exploration Programs of Various Countries
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Editors: Qiu Boyu, Wang Erya