China unveils five-year plan for space exploration that continues push into lunar space

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China has released its plans for space exploration over the next five years, detailing ambitious goals that include strengthening its space infrastructure and developing a next-generation spaceship for carrying people to space. The country is trying to figure out how to land people on the moon.

China's progress in the realm of aerospace would continue thanks to the roadmap detailed in the white paper released today. Over the last few decades, the country has placed a lot of emphasis on expanding its space capabilities, increasing the scope of its launches, and pushing into new areas such as the robotic exploration of Mars. Every few years, China sends a series of landers and rovers to the lunar surface in a long-term campaign of lunar exploration. The country became the first to land a rover on the far side of the moon in 2019.

It has been expected for a long time that China would eventually try to land people on the lunar surface. China has made progress in its human exploration program as the nation's lunar program has advanced. The core module of a new space station was launched in 2021. Three astronauts are living on the station.

China plans to study the Moon with probes before sending people to the lunar surface. Within the next five years, there will be two more robotic spacecraft sent to the Moon to study the lunar polar regions, areas of the lunar surface that are thought to be home to water ice. The first of the two probes will return lunar samples, while the second will do a hopping detection in an area in permanent shadow. The nation is going to study plans for its next lunar probe, as well as work with international partners to build an international research station on the Moon, according to the white paper.

It is not known when China will complete this station or when it will attempt to land humans on the moon. NASA is working on an ambitious lunar landing as China pushes toward the Moon. The US space agency wants to send the first woman and first person of color to the moon by the year 2025. Along with human lunar landings, Artemis calls for robotic exploration of the lunar surface with a series of landers and rovers.

China has always been interested in the exploration of other planets in the Solar System. It hopes to launch probes to asteroids in the next five years, as well as study ways to send a craft to Jupiter and to Mars again.

Building out China's space station, updating its satellite technologies, improving its space transportation and rocket systems, creating new rocket engines, and more are listed in the white paper. China has made it clear that space exploration is a priority.