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China is coming off a very successful mission with the Chang’e 5 returning its samples to Earth recently. With a complicated and successful mission under its belt, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has started talking about plans for future space missions. The agency outlined a new three-step plan detailing its plans for future exploration of the moon and deep space.
CNSA deputy director Wu Yanhua said the agency had achieved its objectives of “orbiting, landing and returning”, and that future missions would focus on “surveying, construction and exploitation.” Wu said the “inspection” would allow the agency to explore space and the geological environment of the moon and other cosmic bodies. He would also investigate radiation in space.
The goal of “building” would be to dominate the building’s infrastructure. The agency targeted the relay satellite used for the Chang’e-4 probe that maintains constant contact between the Moon and Earth. Wu also pointed out that the goal could include investigating the construction of long-term electricity and water supplies, presumably for the moon.
The objective of “exploiting” has to do with the human development of extraterrestrial resources. Wu says that is a common goal of interstellar probe missions around the world. CNSA reportedly has a Phase 4 of the country’s lunar exploration plan underway and it will include four missions to be included in the Chang’e series.
The next mission would be Chang’e-6 and is expected to happen between 2021 and 2025. It will be a lunar material recovery mission with the potential sampling location at the moon’s south pole or far side of the moon. Where the next mission retrieves the samples depends on the Queqiao satellite. If it is still running when Chang’e-6 is launched, CNSA is considering sending the mission to the other side of the moon to take samples. No space agency has ever collected samples from the other side of the moon.
