- As world remembers Neil Armstrong’s historic small step, Chinese scientists outline great leap for their space programme
Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong left the first human footprint on the moon.
At that time, China was one of the poorest countries on Earth. Most of its citizens could not afford a bicycle and its scientists were labouring on farms, far from their laboratories, in service to the Cultural Revolution.
Fifty years later, Yutu 2 " also known as Jade Rabbit " a robotic rover from China, landed on the moon's far side to explore a world no other country could reach, using the nation's advanced artificial intelligence and telecommunication technologies.
Now, with generous support from an ambitious government running the world's second largest economy, Chinese scientists are sharing with their American colleagues an unprecedented plan to colonise the Moon within a decade " with robots.
What you need to know about China's lunar mission
According to a policy paper published on Friday in US journal Science, a Chinese station entirely operated by machines using artificial intelligence will be up and running on the moon by 2030.
The paper, written by the lead scientists from the Chinese government's lunar expedition team to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo moon landing, outlined the technical challenges of future moon exploration and detailed how China would solve these problems with a pragmatic approach.
Chinese astronauts who want to go to the moon may have to wait until after 2030, when robotic technology has matured enough to support an upgrade of the lunar base to a liveable habitat, according to the paper.
Even after that, the Chinese scientists predict humans would remain a sidekick to the machines.
"On the basis of factors such as technology development, launch vehicle selection, economic affordability and cost-effectiveness ratios, robot exploration will remain the primary development direction of subsequent lunar exploration missions (beyond 2030)," the paper said.
At first glance, China's approach is less ambitious than that of the US, which recently launched Artemis, a programme intended to send Americans back to the moon by 2024.
The US plan involves construction of a large space station orbiting the moon and a new fleet of large heavy-lift rockets, none of which currently exist. But Nasa estimated these goals could all be achieved, not only by the short deadline but with a budget of no more than US$30 billion, or less than a third of the cost of the Apollo mission in today's dollars.
A senior space scientist in Beijing, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Artemis program was regarded by some experts in China as a "bait" by Washington to get China involved in a new space race, but added that China was "no fool".
"We have our own plan. What the Americans say or do will have an impact on public opinion, but it will not change our pace," the government researcher said.
"We will not participate in a head-to-head race to the moon. We are not the Soviets," he added.
The former Soviet Union launched the world's first satellite in 1957 and sent the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space in 1961. In response, the US expanded its space programme with the stated intention of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
The intensive space race that followed placed a huge burden on both countries during the cold war, and it was a weak economy that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union, and its space programme, in 1991.
Although China has a much stronger economic foundation than the Soviet Union, Chinese leaders were more interested in the new technological advancements and business opportunities of a lunar programme than the prospect of a cold war-style competition with the US, according to several mainland space scientists who spoke to the South China Morning Post.
In a couple of years, they said, China would finish construction of a full-sized space station in the Earth's lower orbit, to be manned by astronauts and serving as a transit station to the robotic landings on the moon.
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Compared to the US programme, the Chinese approach was less exciting, but was simpler, safer and cheaper than building a costly station in the moon's orbit, according to the Chinese researchers.
"We admire the Artemis. It is a dazzling programme. But if their station runs into trouble, ours may offer some help," said a Shanghai-based space scientist involved in the Chinese moon missions.
Li Chunlai, director of the ground research and application system for China's Lunar Exploration Programme " also known as the Chang'e Project after the Chinese moon goddess " and his colleagues wrote in their paper for Science that Chinese robots would carry out a wide range of tasks in four missions planned for the next 10 years.
One priority was the separation and extraction of helium, an inert gas element that is rare on Earth but abundant in the lunar soil. Helium has many critical applications, from magnetic resonance imaging device in hospitals to hypersonic wind tunnels in military research facilities.
Some helium isotopes can also be used as fuel for fusion nuclear reactors, which could provide an unlimited source of clean energy in the future.
The US currently produces more than 80 per cent of the world's helium, which it subjects to strict export controls. To China, an alternative helium supply alone could help to justify the cost of lunar exploration.
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The robots would also test various civil engineering theories, such as the potential to melt moon dust, using sunlight, to make a construction material as flexible and durable as concrete, for the building of large-scale infrastructure with the aid of 3D printing technology.
According to Li and his colleagues, many countries " including Russia, Germany, Sweden, Netherlands, Turkey, Ethiopia and Pakistan " have officially joined China's lunar program. And, they say, the door of collaboration remains open to the US.
"China is also open to cooperation with Nasa on lunar exploration; both sides can start cooperating on aspects such as exchange of scientific data and space situational awareness information," the paper said.
"China also looks forward to exploring more opportunities to cooperate with Nasa to preserve the space environment for generations to come," it added.
Chen Hongqiao, associate professor at the Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in Guangzhou, southern China, said collaboration in space with the US remained a one-sided Chinese wish.
"The US has marked China as a strategic competitor, (it) will force China to compete on all fronts," Chen said.
But, he added, instead of engaging the US in all these areas, "China could pick its fight".
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