China Planning To Send Astronauts For Long-Term Stays On The Moon

China has its eyes set on the moon. The country is planning to send astronauts to the moon for long-term stays, its state media has reported.

China and Russia last week announced their plan to build a joint lunar space station. Wu Weiren, the chief designer for China's lunar exploration program, told China Space News about its plans to make astronauts stay on the moon for a prolonged period of time, China's state news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

"If the lunar research station project is successfully implemented, China will not be far away from achieving manned landings," Wu said. "Compared to American astronauts who could only stay for tens of hours after landing on the moon, Chinese astronauts will stay on the moon for a longer period of time."

Landing on the lunar south pole

The plan is to land on the moon's south pole, Wu said. The days and nights on the lunar south pole, Xinhua explained, may be just like they are on the Earth's north and south poles. It will have long periods of daylight wherein the sun does not set at all.

This means that the lunar south pole could have 180 days of consecutive sunlight, which would be advantageous for the astronauts doing long-term research.

Preparing for manned missions

China's current rockets still don't have enough thrust to send astronauts to the moon, Wu said, noting that developing proper launch vehicles for deeper space exploration is a part of its 2021-2025 five-year plan.

For now, three missions are included in the fourth phase of its lunar exploration program, Xinhua reported. This includes retrieving the south pole lunar samples collected by the Chang'e-6, surveying the lunar south pole, and testing technologies in preparation for constructing the lunar research station.

China's scientists are also studying how to "safely and accurately" land on the moon. Once the landing is successful, construction of the research station may begin.

Such a massive mission will likely take years to complete. The International Space Station (ISS), for instance, took 10 years and more than 30 missions to complete.

Space exploration

NASA is also planning to send the next man and the first woman to the moon by 2024 under the Artemis Program. The agency's last human mission was in 1972.

This, however, is just the first step in the "next era of human exploration," NASA said, as it is also set on establishing a sustainable presence on Mars. Eventually, the plan is to send astronauts to the Red Planet as well.

Last February, NASA, China and the United Arab Emirates successfully sent spacecraft to the Red Planet.