China can be called many qualities, but lazy is certainly not one of them. The country has ambitious space exploration plans in the coming years. Among these is becoming the first country to establish a base on the dark side of the moon.
SECRET MISSION TO FAR SIDE OF THE MOON
Yes, technically it’s called the far side of the moon, but anyone would agree that dark side sounds better. Do you think Pink Floyd’s album would have sold as well if it said far side? Doubtful, but in the name of science, let’s stick to the far side for this segment. Now that’s out of the way, China has an ambitious and secret space program to send a crewed mission to the moon by 2036. Maybe even as early as 2031. Why the long wait? Well, according to China, they want to use the next 15 to 20 years to strategically raise their abilities and formulate realistic lunar exploration goals.
CHINA WANTS IN ON THE SPACE RACE
Just because NASA has already landed on the moon years ago (don’t even think about it conspiracy theorists) China still wants in on the space race. NASA may have had a successful lunar landing but they have never probed the far side of the moon. China hopes to do that by 2020 as well as launch a Mars rover that same year. Just landing on the lunar, however, is not enough. The Chinese want to take it a step further.
LUNAR BASE ON THE FAR SIDE
The Chinese will be using their Change 4 mission as an experiment for a lunar base on the far side of the lunar surface. A mission to that region is difficult since the satellite is tidally locked to earth. The far side never comes into view which means all communications must be done with a relay device. Just getting there will be hard enough but then the Chinese hope to have a manned base on the surface. If a lunar village does in fact occur, the European Space Agency’s also expressed interest in teaming up. NASA, on the other hand, has their hands full with their own woes. Space tensions are tight between them and the Chinese Space Agency, but perhaps a lunar village will be a place where everyone can exist in harmony. Judging by history, that’s highly unlikely.
