China’s space ambitions are getting bigger and bigger

China has accomplished what only the United States and the Soviet Union (formerly) have achieved: successfully landing space equipment on the surface of Mars.

Chinese people watch the rocket that sent the Tianwen-1 probe into space. Photo: AP The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on May 15 that the Tianwen-1 (Tianwen-1) probe had successfully landed on the surface of the “Red Planet”. “China has left its footprints on Mars for the first time, an important step for our field of space exploration,” Xinhua news agency said. The New York Times reported that since 1976, the US has successfully landed on Mars nine times. The Soviet Union in 1971 became the first country to send a lander to the surface of the Red Planet, but the mission was unsuccessful because the probe then stopped transmitting. Recently, China has continuously recorded new space science achievements. On the morning of April 29, China launched the first module to build its own Space Station (CSS). It seems that to catch up with the US and Russia, China’s ambitions do not stop at Mars and the space station. Moon Dream In January 2019, China was the first country to land a probe on the dark side of the Moon. The dark side can be understood as the night side of the Moon while the other side is observable from Earth due to receiving sunlight and is the day side. This is China’s second successful landing on the lunar surface, the first being in 2013. China is the third country in the world to successfully explore the Moon, after the US and Russia. In December 2020, China sent another probe to the Moon, which is Chang’e-5. On December 16, 2020, the Chang’e-5 spacecraft landed in Inner Mongolia carrying samples from the lunar surface. This is the first time scientists have collected samples from the lunar surface, after the Soviet Luna-24 mission in 1976. Moon samples brought back by Chang’e-5 are on display at the National Museum of China in Beijing. Photo: Getty Images China plans to launch three more spacecraft to the Moon by 2027. Beijing’s goal is to establish a base on the Moon that can be accessed by astronauts within the next decade. In March, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said it would cooperate with China in building a research station on the Moon. However, the two countries have yet to announce the details of this coordination plan. Serious competition The fragmentation of China’s Long March 5B missile falling into the Indian Ocean in May has drawn much criticism from international public opinion. In April, this Long March 5B rocket sent the core module into space to build China’s first space station. In the near future, China plans to carry out 11 more launches to complete the space station by the end of 2022. The International Space Station (ISS) jointly developed by Russia, the US and many countries will “retire” in 2024. It is still unclear what will happen next. The US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) advocates keeping the ISS operational for a few more years. Russia meanwhile announced it would withdraw from 2025. In the event that the ISS is completely shut down, China will be the only country that owns the space station. Accordingly, the Chinese space station named Thien Cung is expected to be able to host three astronauts operating at the same time. China has selected a team of 18 astronauts, including only one woman. The first three astronauts are expected to spend three months in space. Mars and more Model of China’s first space station. Photo: AP China announced that it plans to make one more Mars landing by 2028 and bring samples from the planet back to Earth for study. NASA and the European Space Agency are also embarking on this work in the hope that the US Perseverance probe, which landed on Mars in February, can bring soil and rock from Mars to Earth by 2031. This is said to be more likely to lead to a race between the parties. China also plans to take 10 years to collect samples from the comet. In addition, the country also intends to set up spacecraft to orbit around Venus and Jupiter. By 2024, China plans to launch a space telescope like the US Hubble, which has been in orbit since 1990. On China Space Day (April 24), President Xi Jinping wrote a letter to senior space scientists, encouraging them to “intensify and expand space exploration and rapidly quickly turn China into a space power.