China's manned lunar exploration program under steady progress

This photo shows the exterior design of China's moon-landing spacesuit during the third Spacesuit Technology Forum in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, Sept. 28, 2024. (Xinhua/Wang Quanchao)

BEIJING, March 3 (Xinhua) -- China aims to land its astronauts on the moon before 2030 for scientific exploration. The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) announced on Monday that the country has been steadily advancing the lunar landing phase of its manned lunar exploration program.

By 2025, China's manned space program will focus on two major tasks: the application and development of the space station and the manned lunar exploration, said the CMSA.

The CMSA disclosed that, by now, major space flight-related products, such as the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou manned spacecraft, the Lanyue lunar lander, the Wangyu moon-landing spacesuit, and the Tansuo manned lunar rover, are in preliminary development stages with phased progress.

Meanwhile, the test and launch facilities related to the lunar landing mission at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in southern China's Hainan Province are being developed and constructed in an orderly manner.

The overall plan for the lunar exploration mission's ground systems, such as the landing site, has been completed, and the construction works will be carried out as planned.

Various large-scale tests will be conducted on initial samples of the above-mentioned major space flight-related products, according to the CMSA.

China's manned lunar exploration program will continue to promote the digital transformation of research and development, targeting the effective improvement of quality and efficiency, the CMSA added.

The country plans to carry out a manned lunar landing before 2030. Two carrier rockets will be launched to send a manned spacecraft and a lunar lander into lunar orbit. The spacecraft and lunar lander will rendezvous and dock, and then astronauts will enter the lander.

Upon the lander's arrival on the moon's surface, astronauts will drive the lunar rover for scientific exploration.

In February, the CMSA unveiled that the moon-landing spacesuit is named Wangyu, meaning gazing into the cosmos, and the manned lunar rover is named Tansuo, meaning to explore the unknown.