The goal is to complete the program and make it operational by 2030 using high-resolution images. An “ambitious and significant” plan to study distant celestial bodies. Economic and military competition with the United States. The Zhurong mission to Mars and the launch of the Tianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft.
Milan () – If China’s first territorial – and terrestrial – objective in the immediate future is to recover the “rebel” island of Taiwan, long-term programs go far beyond the borders of the solar system, in search for “habitable planets” that can be colonized. At least this is Beijing’s ambitious space plan which, according to Chinese experts in the sector, should be finalized and operational by the end of 2030 with high-resolution images and spectroscopic investigations.
Zhang Xuhui, executive vice president of the China Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Innovation, points out that the objective of the plan called “Miyin” -still in the development phase- is to search for new habitable planets outside of Earth. Quoted by the English-language newspaper Global Times, which is close to the communist party, the expert stated during a conference in Hefei, in the east of the country, that the first steps of this new investigation should begin in 2030, when the assembly process has finished. of the basic telescope.
in search of life
The researchers intend to make high-resolution images and spectroscopic observations of various types of objects in order to map the aqueous component present in the solar system. “The Miyin program – Zhang added – is ambitious and significant, but it is still in the phase of technological development. In the future it will progress in its maturity through a series of flight tests and at the same time we will be making new scientific advances along the way. The Chinese space program has several stages: in 2025 the Chinese space station will be the base for experiments in the field of optical interference, better known as interferometry, a technique used to study distant celestial objects in space; One year later, the scientists intend to launch an experimental satellite with technology capable of surveying optical interference distributed in space for the first time, as well as verifying the key points of the Miyin program; then, in 2030, the telescope for imaging with optical interference will be completed. The last stage, Zhang concluded, is the search for “habitable” planets.
The goal is to map the structure and physical properties of objects in the solar system, as well as the distribution of its molecular components, especially water, and reveal its origin, dynamics, and evolution of its chemical composition. Beijing’s space race also includes investigations into the genesis of life on earth and its components, in a mix of outward progress and internal research back to origins. A plan that reinforces, once again, Chinese ambitions with its million-dollar investments, which have already resulted in some successes such as the landing of a probe on the far and dark side of the Moon in January 2019, a world first to date. Furthermore, China’s Tiangong space station will likely become the only one up and running in 2031, when NASA takes the International Space Station out of orbit of our planet. Washington has always denied China access to the ISS, due to secrets related to the military space program.
space war
Beijing launched the first space programs in the 1950s, initially collaborating with the then Soviet Union, but later continued with an autonomous program after the crisis with Moscow in 1960. One of the first successes, 10 years later, was the launch into orbit of the artificial satellite in 1970, which was followed by a phase of slow progress until the new acceleration – thanks to great investments and cutting-edge technologies – in the 1990s, with the sending of astronauts out of the atmosphere and the latest robotic vehicles to the Moon and Mars. The United States is following Beijing’s progress with concern, seeing its supremacy in space and the economic-military threat it poses in danger. China is the third country, after the Soviet Union and the United States, to have carried out human missions beyond the Earth’s atmosphere using exclusively domestically produced technology. Control of space today already seems to be as important as economic resources on earth, especially due to the potential of artificial satellites. And if in the future it becomes possible and economically sustainable to exploit the resources of our satellite or other celestial bodies, the confrontation between the parties is destined to become increasingly fierce, because the current treaties on aerospace law they do not establish precise rules for the various political, diplomatic and strategic controversies that may arise.
From Zhurong to Tianzhou 6
In May 2021, a Chinese robotic vehicle named Zhurong successfully landed on Mars, marking China’s entry into the group of countries leading missions beyond the atmosphere. The 240 kg vehicle with six scientific instruments, including a high-resolution topographic camera, studied the soil and atmosphere of the red planet, exploring the surface for 358 days and traveling almost 2,000 meters. When the established three-month mission was over, the fully robotic rover entered a torpor phase in May of last year, most likely due to an accumulation of sand and dust, and lost track of it. Chinese experts continue to monitor the development of the situation, while continuing to work on many other fronts, seeing that today they have four spaceports for orbital launches, rockets and cutting-edge technologies to support their ambitions.
One of the stated goals is to send astronauts to the Moon and set up a permanent base on the satellite, and then go to Mars, as well as plan to build a power plant that can store solar energy in space and transfer it to Earth. This will be tomorrow, while right now the focus is on the launch of the Tianzhou 6 cargo spacecraft to resupply the Tiangong space station, the first mission of its kind since the station’s construction finished in November. The unmanned vector, loaded with 7.4 tons of fuel, food, supplies and scientific research equipment, left the Wenchang launch station on the southern island of Hainan yesterday, according to data provided by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA). “The rocket and the vehicle are in excellent condition. Ready to fly,” said Zhong Wenan, chief engineer at the Xichang Center, which oversees the Wenchang station. The spacecraft then docked regularly to the orbital station and completed all phases eight hours after launch. “In the future,” added Wang Ran, head of projects at the China Academy of Space Technology, “we plan to send a huge refrigerator so astronauts can eat fresh fruit and frozen food.” The space race continues.
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