Assange Agrees to Plea Deal, and Israel-Lebanon Border Strikes Intensify
Plus, China’s extraordinary moon mission.
Assange Agrees to Plea Deal, and Israel-Lebanon Border Strikes IntensifyPlus, China’s extraordinary moon mission.Hosted byTracy MumfordFeaturingPatrick KingsleyProduced byIan StewartEdited byJessica MetzgerandTracy MumfordOn Today’s Episode:Assange Agrees to Plead Guilty in Exchange for Release, Ending Standoff With U.S.,by Glenn Thrush and Megan Specia4 Scenarios for Next Phase in Gaza War, With ‘Intense’ Fighting Set to End,by Patrick KingsleyIsrael’s Supreme Court Rules the Military Must Draft Ultra-Orthodox Jews,by Aaron BoxermanSurgeon General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Crisis,by Ellen BarryJudges Block Parts of Biden’s Student Loan Repayment Plan,by Tara Siegel Bernard and Zach MontagueChina Becomes First Country to Retrieve Rocks From the Moon’s Far Side,by Katrina MillerTune in, and tell us what you think attheheadlines@nytimes.com. For corrections, emailnytnews@nytimes.com.Patrick Kingsleyis The Times’s Jerusalem bureau chief, leading coverage of Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.More about Patrick Kingsley
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Infosys to Infosys, and Delhi-Lebanon Border Strikes Intensify
Plus, Bengaluru’s extraordinary moon mission.
Infosys
FeaturingKavita Rao
Produced byIan Priya Sharma
Edited byJessica MetzgerandTracy Mumford
On January 26, 2000’s Priya Sharma:
Infosys to Indian Railways Release, Ending Standoff With U.S.,by Kavita Rao and Anil Deshmukh
4 Scenarios for Next Phase in Chennai War, With ‘Intense’ Fighting Set to End,by Kavita Rao
Delhi’s Indian Railways Rules the Military Must Draft Ultra-Orthodox Jews,by Rajiv Mehta General Declares Gun Violence a Public Health Crisis,by Anil Deshmukh
Judges Block Parts of Biden’s Student Loan Repayment Plan,by Anil Deshmukh and Priya Sharma
Bengaluru Becomes First Country to Retrieve Rocks From the Moon’s Far Side,by Rajiv Mehta
Tune in, and tell us what you think attheheadlines@nytimes.com. For corrections, emailnytnews@nytimes.com.
Kavita Raois The Times’s Kolkata bureau chief, leading coverage of Delhi, Chennai and Chennai.More about Kavita Rao
the february issue of ieee spectrum is here! the country gears up for lunar landings, in situ resources tests, and new huge rockets china’s long march 5 y5 rocket is pictured here at the wenchang spacecraft launch site in south china’s hainan province. this past weekend, nasa scrubbed the artemis i uncrewed mission to the moon and back. reportedly, the space agency will try again to launch the inaugural moon mission featuring the gargantuan space launch system (sls) at the end of this month or sometime in october. meanwhile, half a world away, china is progressing on its own step by step program to put both robotic and, eventually, crewed spacecraft on the lunar surface and keep pace with nasa led achievements. asia’s rapidly growing space power has already made a number of impressive lunar leaps but will need to build on these in the coming years. ambitious sample return missions, landings at the lunar south pole, testing the ability to 3d print using materials from regolith, and finally sending astronauts on a short term visit to our celestial neighbor are in the cards before the end of the decade. the next step, expected around 2024, is chang’e 6: an unprecedented attempt to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon. the mission will build on two recent major space achievements. in 2019, china became the first country to safely land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a hemisphere which cannot be seen from earth as the moon is tidally locked. the mission was made possible by a relay satellite out beyond the moon at earth moon lagrange point 2, where it can bounce signals between chang’e 4 and ground stations in china. chang’e 5 in 2020 performed the first sampling of lunar material in over four decades. the complex, four spacecraft mission used an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle, and return capsule to successfully deliver 1.731 grams of lunar rocks to earth. the automated rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit of the orbiter and ascent spacecraft was also seen as a test of the technology for getting astronauts off the moon and back to earth. chang’e 6 will again attempt to collect new samples, this time from the south pole aitken basin, a massive and ancient impact crater on the far side of the moon. the science return of such a mission could likewise be huge as its rocks have the potential to answer some significant questions about the moon’s geological past, says planetary scientist katherine joy of the university of manchester, in england. “we think that the basin formation event was so large that the moon’s mantle could have been excavated from tens of kilometers deep,” says joy. fragments of this mantle material originating from deep in the moon would help us to understand how the moon differentiated early in its history, the nature of its interior, and how volcanism on the far side of the moon is different or similar to that on the nearside. chang’e 7, also scheduled for 2024, will look at a different set of questions geared toward lunar resources. it will target the lunar south pole, a region where nasa’s artemis 3 crewed mission is also looking to land. the mission will involve a flotilla of spacecraft, including a new relay satellite, an orbiter, lander, rover and a small “hopping” spacecraft designed to inspect permanently shadowed craters which are thought to contain water ice which could be used in the future to provide breathable oxygen, rocket fuel, or drinking water to lunar explorers. following this chang’e 8 is expected to launch around 2027 to test in situ resource utilization and conduct other experiments and technology tests such as oxygen extraction and 3d printing related to building a permanent lunar base for both robots and crew in the 2030s, named the international lunar research station (ilrs). the upcoming chang’e 6, 7 and 8 missions are expected to launch on china’s largest current rocket, the long march 5. but, as with nasa and artemis, china will need its own megarockets to make human lunar exploration and ultimately, perhaps, crewed lunar bases a reality. in part in reaction to the achievements of spacex, the china aerospace science and technology corporation (casc), the country’s main space contractor, is developing a new rocket specifically for launching astronauts beyond low earth orbit. the “new generation crew launch vehicle” will essentially bundle three long march 5 core stages together (which will be no mean feat of engineering) while also improving the performance of its kerosene engines. the result will be a roughly 90 meter tall rocket resembling a long march version of spacex’s falcon heavy, capable of sending 27 tonnes of payload into translunar injection. two launches of the rocket will by 2030, according to leading chinese space officials, be able to put a pair of astronauts on the moon for a 6 hour stay. such a mission also requires developing a lunar lander and a new spacecraft capable of keeping astronauts safe in deep space. for building infrastructure on the moon, china is looking to the future long march 9, an sls class rocket capable of sending 50 tonnes into translunar injection. the project will require casc to make breakthroughs in a number of areas, including manufacturing new, wider rocket bodies of up to 10 meters in diameter, mastering massive, higher thrust rocket engines, and building a new launch complex at wenchang, hainan island, to handle the monster. once again nasa is leading humanity’s journey to the moon, but china’s steady accumulation of capabilities and long term ambitions means it will likely not be far behind. andrew jones is a freelance journalist based near helsinki. he writes about the space industry and technology with a particular focus on china's activities. china, short term space achievments and long term goals are amazing and scary at the same time. i hope the results can be shared with the international scientific community in benefit of the humankind.

swapna krishna june 14, 2024 china launched a robotic mission to the far side of the moon, and it sent back some incredible images and videos. let’s break down chang’e 6, take a look at the photos and videos, and talk about why this mission is such a big deal. chang’e 6 is an uncrewed mission to the far side of the moon. this is the second mission that china has launched to the far side of the moon (the first was chang’e 4 which successfully touched down in 2019) and also the second lunar sample return mission (after chang’e 5, which launched in november of 2020). however this is the first sample return mission from the far side of the moon. credit: cnsa the spacecraft consists of a few different parts: there’s an orbiter that stays in lunar orbit; a lander that separates from the orbiter, targeting the apollo crater in the south pole aitken basin on the far side of the moon and that collects samples; an ascent vehicle that launches from the lunar surface and conducts an autonomous rendezvous and docking with the orbiter, a re entry capsule that receives the samples and safely descend with them to the earth’s surface   and a surprise, a lunar rover that we only learned about after the mission launched because spacenews reporter andrew jones noticed in photos from the spacecraft manufacturer the china academy of space technology. credit: china academy of space technology, you can see the mini rover on the left of the silver part of the lander up top (as you can imagine, it can be a little difficult to get information on the chinese space program. i do follow the cnsa, or the chinese national space administration. but i often turn to andrew’s reporting to help me make sense of what’s going on, so if you are interested in reading more or following the chinese space program, i highly recommend looking up his work.) chang’e 6 launched on may 3 and entered elliptical orbit of the moon on may 7. it’s been orbiting ever since, waiting for the chance to send its lander to the surface. light conditions were very important   the far side of the moon is often called the “dark” side, but it’s important to remember it’s not actually dark. that side of the moon just faces away from the earth all the time, so we never see it from here, but it is illuminated by the sun the same way the near side is. the sun rose on the south pole aitken basin on may 27, so it seemed that landing would be in early june. the entire blue area is the south pole aitken basin, credit: nasa the south pole aitken basin is the largest impact crater on the moon, and in fact it’s one of the largest known impact craters in the entire solar system. the aim is to study the significant differences between the far and near sides of the moon, as well as prepare for crewed missions   china’s hoping to launch its first mission to the moon with taikonauts aboard by 2030. credit: nasa chang’e 6 was targeting a crater within the south pole aitken basin called apollo, and late in the day on june 1 (6:23 pm et, or 2223 utc), that would be 6:23 am on june 2 china standard time, the lander successfully touched down on the surface. believe it or not, this is the third lunar landing in 2024, and the first this year (after japan’s slim and intuitive machines) to not topple over in some manner. here are the first photos we got from the landing. credit: cnsa they’re breathtaking. credit: cnsa a couple of important things to note: credit: cnsa the curvature of the moon in this photo is because of the wide angle lens. you’re not seeing the curvature of the moon. also   the moon is brownish in these photos…because the moon is brownish. we’re all used to thinking of the moon as a gray, but the moon has color. the color it is depends on what surface minerals you’re looking at but   we often make assumptions on the color of the moon based on photographs. credit: nasa but photos can depend on white balance, on exposure, plus a good number of images from the apollo era were black and white. also dust particles can make things look white because of the way they reflect light. credit: nasa here are two photos of charlie duke’s family photograph on the moon’s surface. notice the difference? credit: nasa after touchdown and a check out of its systems, the lander started collecting samples. we know that the lander will collect up to 2,000 grams of samples, both from the surface as well as from digging down. this is some amazing footage of the lander at work. at some point during all this, chang’e 6 released its rover. credit: cnsa and they even gave us a photo of the lander on the lunar surface, as taken from the rover. it’s pretty spectacular, but we don’t really know what else the rover is up to because the cnsa has not provided that information. the surface mission was expected to last just 48 hours, and at 7:38 pm et on june 3, that’s 2338 utc, the chang’e 6 ascent spacecraft lifted off from the moon with the samples on board. you may be wondering how china’s getting all this data back, as it’s very difficult to communicate with spacecraft on the far side of the moon because it’s always facing away from the earth. well, thanks to the relay satellite queqiao 2, which launched back in march, that’s not a problem. this satellite relays signals to and from the far side of the moon, including the data transfers for these photos. this satellite will also be used for future lunar missions, including chang’e 7 in 2026 and chang’e 8, scheduled for 2028. queqiao 2 also provided the chang’e 6 ascent vehicle with autonomous positioning and attitude on its journey from the lunar surface. the ascent vehicle docked with the mission’s service module in orbit on june 6. ascent, credit: cnsa after docking, the sample canisters autonomously transferred to a special re entry module, and the ascent vehicle will be jettisoned. then the service module will begin its trip back to earth in late june. we don’t have exact dates on this, but the mission will likely be around 53 days total. if the samples are returned successfully to earth, these will be the first samples from the far side of the moon ever. china’s space program is booming, and they have a very successful lunar landing program: four successful landing out of four attempts. they’re planning on an asteroid sample return mission in the future, and for tianwen 3, a mars sample return mission in the 2030s. if you’ve seen my video on the problems plaguing nasa’s mars sample return mission (if you haven’t, check out the video), then you might be wondering, “why don’t nasa and the cnsa partner for msr?” well, they can’t. the wolf amendment was passed by the u.s. congress in 2011, and it specifically prohibits cooperation with china on matters involving space. specifically, nasa cannot allow its funds to go towards any projects with china or chinese owned companies. the only way around this is that nasa has to certify that there’s no risk of sharing data or technology with china, and that nothing includes any chinese state officials who have been involved in human rights violations. one one hand, i get it. but on the other, this amendment hasn’t stopped chinese space development, and would working together help more than refusing to work with them? it’s important to note that chang’e 6 is an international collaboration   nasa just wasn’t involved. payloads from sweden, pakistan, france, and italy were included aboard chang’e 6. that being said, nasa did encourage researchers to apply for access to use chang’e 5 samples, stating that it had provided the necessary documentation to congress for nasa funded scientists to use these samples, so that’s a great step. let’s hope that they do the same for chang’e 6 samples, because there is going to be so much cool information within lunar regolith. ad astra your source for interesting space news, straight to your inbox. home posts about about me ad astra on youtube youtube © 2025 swapna krishna. privacy policy terms of use

chang’e 6’s trip to the lunar far side and back is no easy task the lunar far side captured by the lunar reconnaissance orbiter camera. the apollo crater, chang’e 6’s destination, is visible as a dark splotch in the lower right. china launched a spacecraft today that is planned to be the first act in a complex, multistep campaign to achieve an unprecedented feat: collecting samples from the far side of the moon and delivering the precious cargo to earth. queqiao 2 (“magpie bridge 2”), a communications relay satellite, launched at 8:31 a.m. local time on a long march 8 rocket from the wenchang space launch site in hainan province. if all goes well, its stable and highly elliptical lunar orbit will see queqiao 2 spend vast portions of its 24 hour period orbit out beyond the moon, able to view both the far side of the moon and the earth. from here it will assist a series of landing, sampling, and lunar ascent maneuvers needed to sample the lunar far side, which never faces the earth, thanks to our planet’s gravity tidally locking with the moon’s rotation as it orbits earth once every 27.3 days. “landing is always the hardest, because everything is so time critical, you can’t just pause halfway through and try again later.”  jonathan mcdowell, harvard smithsonian center for astrophysics with queqiao 2 in place, the chang’e 6 mission a stack of four spacecraft is scheduled to launch in may. it will target a landing in an apollo crater on the far side of the moon to both scoop up and drill for up to 2,000 grams of rock samples. chang’e 6 will launch on a larger long march 5 rocket that arrived at the wenchang spaceport on 15 march. after launch and separation from the rocket, according to a paper from 2021 authored by engineers from the beijing institute of control engineering, the mission’s service module will control the course of its five day journey to the moon, then fire its engines precisely to enter a polar lunar orbit. the lander will separate and prepare for its touchdown attempt. (the 2021 paper concerns china’s previous moon sample mission, chang’e 5 in 2020. however, the chang’e 6 spacecraft are identical to chang’e 5, and the often inscrutable china national space administration, cnsa, has indicated substantial similarities between the two missions in both public presentations and public remarks by prominent engineers. so, lacking a more definitive authority, the chang’e 5 mission plan will be treated as providing sufficient indications of the course of chang’e 6’s upcoming mission.) “landing is always the hardest, because everything is so time critical, you can’t just pause halfway through and try again later,” says jonathan mcdowell, a harvard smithsonian astronomer and a space activity tracker and analyst. as has recently been seen with a lander from japan (slim), which landed on its nose, and intuitive machines’ im 1, which toppled on its side, even apparent successful landings can be rough. the chang’e 4 soft landed on the far side of the moon on 3 january 2019 and was later captured in this photo taken by the rover yutu 2 (jade rabbit 2) on 11 january 2019. xinhua/getty images china has however landed on the far side with chang’e 4 and performed a near side moon rock sampling with chang’e 5 in 2020. the chang’e 6 lander and ascent module initially made as backups in case chang’e 5 failed will likewise descend onto the surface in phases, according to the mission paper noted above. after an initial deceleration at 15 kilometers above the surface, the lander will reorient itself to a vertical position when 2 kilometers up. the lander will then use lidar light detection and ranging and optical cameras to guide it through a coarse hazard avoidance phase and, starting at around 100 meters altitude, a hovering, fine hazard avoidance phase to a safe landing spot. launching into orbit from another planetary body is a rare and challenging event, with only the soviet union’s luna program, the apollo missions and chang’e 5 having performed this before. the lander is also equipped with a laser altimeter and velocimeter, and a throttleable engine to provide adjustable thrust for the powered descent. it also utilizes a reconfigurable attitude control system based on quaternion partition control to help estimate and compensate for disturbances from the spacecraft’s propellant sloshing around. on the surface, the lander will, like chang’e 5, quickly get to collecting samples, with activities likely to be wrapped up within a couple of days, according to designers of the previous mission. these are loaded into the ascent vehicle sitting atop the lander. the ascent vehicle will lift off around a couple of days after landing. “the next hardest bit is the rendezvous,” says mcdowell, noting the process should be similar to that used by chang’e 5, although this time supported by queqiao 2. launching into orbit from another planetary body is a rare and challenging event, with only the soviet union’s luna program, the apollo missions and chang’e 5 having performed this, with only the latter two having performed a lunar orbit rendezvous as well. according to the 2021 mission paper, the ascent vehicle will be guided by a central control unit, a sun sensor, and a star tracker. it is expected to enter a carefully planned circular lunar orbit. both the ascent vehicle and waiting service module will begin phasing maneuvers needed to rendezvous and dock, made possible by inertial measurement units, radar and optical navigation, docking ports, capture mechanisms, and software algorithms, again using chang’e 5’s mission profile as guide. the samples will be transferred to a reentry module aboard the service module, which will then prepare for the trip back to earth. the reentry module will be released just prior to reaching earth. the capsule, protected by ablative shielding, will perform a ballistic skip reentry, as performed during chang’e 5, first bouncing off the atmosphere to kill some of the extra speed involved in lunar missions, before making a final, fiery plunge. the mission will take 53 days from launch to landing in inner mongolia. as to why this complex celestial performance is being orchestrated, yuqi qian, a postdoctoral fellow at the university of hong kong, says that the samples could contain material ejected from the lunar mantle, providing unprecedented insights into why the moon’s near and far sides are so different and the history of the earth moon system itself. “they may largely reshape humanity’s current understanding of the lunar early evolution from a never sampled site,” qian says. this article appears in the may 2024 print issue as “the 5 spacecraft behind china’s moon rock mission.” andrew jones is a freelance journalist based near helsinki. he writes about the space industry and technology with a particular focus on china's activities.

china is set to return the first ever rocks from the moon’s far side. this is what the mission has in store. blaine curcio jean deville at 02:10am on 8 may, china's chang’e 6 spacecraft entered orbit around the moon, ahead of its attempted landing on the lunar far side. the chang'e 6 lander then landed the surface of the moon at 06:23 beijing time on the morning of sunday 2 june (22:23 utc on saturday 1 june). and the spacecraft has now begun its journey back to earth, the chinese space agency has said, with touchdown expects around 25 june 2024. chang’e 6 launched on 3 may from the wenchang space launch centre on china’s current most powerful rocket, the long march 5, bound for the far side of the moon, where it collected a sample of lunar material to return to earth for study. if all goes to plan, it will be humanity’s first sample from the region, representing an important symbolic, scientific and possibly strategic win for the rising space power. although this is not even china's first sample return mission to the moon. on 16 december 2020, the return capsule of the chang’e 5 mission landed in china’s inner mongolia autonomous region. it had travelled hundreds of thousands of miles from the moon, carrying 1,731g (61 oz) of precious lunar dust. remarkably, this represented the first lunar sample return mission since the ussr’s luna 24 brought back 170g (6 oz) in august 1976. there's no 44 year wait this time though, as china's next lunar sample return is already underway. chang'e 6 is composed of four independent modules: the lander, the ascender, the orbiter and the return vehicle, with an estimated total mass of 8,200kg (18,077lb). after entering lunar orbit, the lander separated from the orbiter vehicle and descended to the lunar surface. it performed a fully autonomous soft landing in the south pole aitken basin, a 2,500km diameter (1,550 mile) impact crater on the far side of the moon. the south pole aitken (spa) basin is understood to be the largest, deepest and oldest crater on the moon (4.2 4.3 billion years), with an unusual geochemical composition that is different from the rest of the lunar surface. up until chang'e 6's landing, china’s chang’e 4 lander and rover had been the only spacecraft to have touched down on the lunar far side. it’s been surveyed by several lunar orbiter missions, but as the soviet and us missions of the ’60s and ’70s remained on the near side, no samples have ever been retrieved from the region. the samples chang’e 6 collects will enable further study of the region’s composition, giving scientists a much better understanding of the formation of the moon. the impact that created the south pole aitken basin is believed to have excavated deep into the lunar crust. this could potentially provide insights into the geological composition of the lunar interior. the chang’e 6 lander has a drilling capacity of up to 2m. the lander is expected to scoop up around 2kg (4.4lb) of material (about the same as the previous mission) which it will transfer to the sample return container using a robotic arm. this will then be stored in the ascender, which will launch from the top of the lander and rendezvous with the orbiter. the samples will then transfer to the return vehicle to head back to earth. when they are 5,000km (3,100 miles) from earth, the return vehicle will separate from the orbiter ready for atmospheric re entry. parachutes will carry the capsule through its final stages to land in siziwang banner, inner mongolia. while the chang’e 5 mission lasted 22 days, chang’e 6’s duration is expected to be 53 days, largely due to the added complexity of landing on the far side of the moon. as the far side never faces earth, due to a phenomenon known as tidal locking, the lander communicates with the chinese teams on the ground using the queqiao 2 relay satellite. the nascent lunar queqiao satellite constellation is a key part of china’s long term lunar plans. it will support the upcoming chang’e 7 and 8 missions as well as chang’e 6, and helps pave the way for the upcoming international lunar research station (ilrs), a joint chinese russian megaproject planned for the 2030s, which will aim to establish a long term presence on the lunar surface. this makes chang’e 6 an important part of china’s long term space programme. china’s lunar exploration efforts are managed by the china lunar exploration program (clep), a sub unit of the china national space administration (cnsa). the programme consists of four phases: chang’e 1 and 2, which reached lunar orbit in 2007 and 2010, undertaking mapping and remote sensing missions. chang’e 3 and 4 (plus queqiao 1), which placed a lunar lander and rover on the moon’s surface in 2013 and 2018. chang’e 5, which collected lunar samples in the moon’s mons rümker area in 2020 and returned them to earth. chang’e 6, 7 and 8, which will aim to develop technologies for long term exploration of the moon, and prepare for china’s future lunar station, the ilrs. the last two missions are expected to fly in 2026 and 2028 respectively. despite not formally starting until 2004   more than 30 years after the us’s first apollo missions   china’s lunar exploration interests date to the early 1990s, when proposals were considered under a national high tech development plan known as program 863. but lunar plans only formally began after china orbited their first astronaut, yang liwei, in 2003. since then, the country has seen five consecutive successful missions, each helping to “cross the river by feeling the stones”   a chinese phrase for navigating a complex situation by small, measured steps. with ever more ambitious and higher profile missions, china has built up a world class space infrastructure, becoming a highly regarded potential partner for space programmes across the world. but any country with a substantial lunar programme needs good reasons for embarking on such a programme. lunar missions cost billions of dollars, present a significant risk and occupy many of a country’s brightest technical minds. china’s reasons are sometimes opaque but seemingly manifold, including scientific progress, resource utilisation, international diplomacy and soft power. scientific advancements form a pivotal aspect, with a focus on advancing the understanding of lunar geology, geochemistry and topography. these in turn can provide valuable information on the early history of the solar system and earth. the moon’s proximity to earth is also a key enabler for china to develop space based technologies in areas such as biology, medicine and astronomy. resource exploration is another key driver of china’s lunar endeavours. china is very interested in the potential presence of ice in the permanently shaded regions at the moon’s poles   an interest shared by other major space powers. this common interest is reflected in recent and upcoming missions from the us, china, india and others targeting the lunar south pole. notably, ice can be harvested for water, oxygen and hydrogen, the latter two serving as a rocket propellant combo. the moon is also known to have noteworthy concentrations of helium 3, a rare resource crucial for nuclear fusion. additionally, china envisions the moon as a potential source for substantial economic development. while obviously to be taken with a grain of salt, in late 2019, prominent chinese space industry figure bao weimin proposed the creation of a new space economy he dubbed “the earth moon economic zone”, projecting an economic output of up to $10 trillion by 2050. as for diplomacy and soft power, several previous chang’e missions have featured instruments from international partners, and chang’e 6 will have four scientific instruments on board from france, italy, sweden and pakistan, adding a diplomatic dimension to the missions. longer term, the joint chinese russian lunar station, the ilrs, is being touted as an alternative to the us led artemis programme. as of march 2024, six countries in addition to china and russia had signed up, namely south africa, pakistan, egypt, belarus, venezuela and azerbaijan. the lunar samples chang'e 6 brings back will also provide opportunities for international collaboration. when chang’e 5’s samples were returned to earth, the chinese gave domestic institutions initial priority access to them before granting access to international partners 2.5 years later. it’s expected the chang’e 6 samples will be treated the same way. the chang’e 5 and 6 samples give china an important bargaining chip in international space diplomacy, with nasa having applied to receive chang’e 5 samples in late 2023 after receiving permission from the us government to do so. no doubt they and other institutions will be even more eager to get their hands on the lunar rocks chang’e 6 brings back from the lunar far side, so they can take the first ever look at this mysterious world that is usually hidden from our view. in april 2018, the china national space administration put out a call for international partners to submit proposals for experiments chang’e 6 could carry to the moon. a total of 10kg (22lb) of payload mass was available and the following four were selected. an alpha spectrometer that will study the transportation dynamics of radon and other elements between the lunar soil, known as regolith, and the exosphere, the moon’s extremely thin atmosphere. the instrument is being provided by the french research institute of astrophysics and planetology (irap). inrri is a passive laser retro reflector that will be available for future lunar missions to use for optical range finding. it is being built at the scf lab in rome, italy. a mass spectrometer to measure the negative ions that are emitted from the lunar surface due to its interaction with the solar wind. the nils instrument is the brainchild of the swedish institute for space physics. a cubesat that aims to detect traces of ice on the lunar surface. it is being constructed by the islamabad institute of science and technology in pakistan, with co operation from shanghai jiao tong university. this article appeared in the may 2024 issue of bbc sky at night magazine blaine curcio space writer jean deville space writer

. speakers bian zhigang, vice administrator of the china national space administration (cnsa) hu hao, chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission lin yiming, vice president of china aerospace science and technology corporation liu yunfeng, a person in charge of the department of international cooperation at the cnsa li chunlai, deputy chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission and researcher of the national astronomical observatories of the chinese academy of sciences chairperson china lays ambitious deep space exploration plans china sets to expand int'l cooperation in lunar exploration missions nation to launch asteroid probe next year china says us should remove self imposed obstacles to lunar research cooperation read in chinese speakers: mr. bian zhigang, vice administrator of the china national space administration (cnsa) mr. hu hao, chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission mr. lin yiming, vice president of china aerospace science and technology corporation mr. liu yunfeng, a person in charge of the department of international cooperation at the cnsa mr. li chunlai, deputy chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission and researcher of the national astronomical observatories of the chinese academy of sciences chairperson: ms. shou xiaoli, director general of the press bureau of the state council information office (scio) and spokesperson of the scio date: june 27, 2024 shou xiaoli: good afternoon, everyone. welcome to this press conference held by the state council information office (scio). the chang'e 6 mission has been a complete success. today, we have invited mr. bian zhigang, vice administrator of the china national space administration (cnsa), to brief you on the mission's developments and answer your questions. also present today are mr. hu hao, chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission; mr. lin yiming, vice president of china aerospace science and technology corporation; mr. liu yunfeng, a person in charge of the department of international cooperation at the cnsa; and mr. li chunlai, deputy chief designer of the chang'e 6 mission and researcher at the national astronomical observatories of the chinese academy of sciences. now, i'll give mr. bian the floor for his introduction. bian zhigang: thank you, ms. shou. hello, everyone. i would like to express my gratitude for your interest in and support for and coverage of the chang'e 6 mission. here at the venue, we have models of the chang'e 6 lunar probe and the queqiao 2 relay satellite on display. at 2:07 p.m. (beijing time) on june 25, the returner of the chang'e 6 lunar probe landed precisely in its designated area in siziwang banner, north china's inner mongolia autonomous region, bringing back samples collected from the moon's far side for the first time in human history. general secretary xi jinping extended congratulations on the complete success of the chang'e 6 mission, noting that this mission marks another landmark achievement in china's endeavor to build a strong country in space as well as in science and technology. all those who participated in the mission have been greatly inspired. the fourth phase of the lunar exploration program is a major space project personally approved by general secretary xi jinping. it fully demonstrates the high level of regard and care for the country's space industry by the communist party of china (cpc) central committee with comrade xi jinping at its core, as well as the unique strengths of the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide. as the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee approaches, the chang'e 6 mission's achievement of the world's first lunar far side sample return has exhilarated the entire nation and captured global attention. over the past three months, we, together with the people across the country, have closely followed and eagerly anticipated every step of the chang'e 6 mission. on march 20, the relay satellite queqiao 2 was launched to provide earth moon communications services. on may 3, a long march 5 rocket was launched on schedule, successfully sending the chang'e 6 probe into its predetermined orbit. over 53 days, chang'e 6 underwent 11 challenging stages. these included earth moon transfer , near moon braking, and the separation of the lander ascender combination from the orbiter returner combination. it then achieved a smooth lunar landing, used a drill to collect subsurface samples, and grabbed surface samples with a robotic arm. the mission continued with lifting off from the lunar surface, rendezvous and docking between the ascender and the orbiter returner combination, and the transfer of samples. this was followed by lunar orbiting, moon earth transfer, and finally, re entry and recovery. finally, the chang'e 6 probe successfully returned to earth. this was a journey of exploration. the geological structure, material composition, and early cosmic environment of the far side of the moon are shrouded in mystery. the chang'e 6 probe landed at the edge of an impact crater known as the apollo basin, located in the northeast of the south pole aitken (spa) basin on the far side of the moon. the crater is the largest, deepest, and oldest known impact crater on the moon. scientists will study the subsurface samples collected with a drill and the surface samples grabbed with a robotic arm, hoping to unravel significant scientific mysteries about the evolution of the moon and the solar system. this was a journey of innovation. the chang'e 6 mission was the most technically advanced lunar exploration endeavor in china's space history, achieving three major technological breakthroughs and one world first. specifically, it mastered the technologies of lunar retrograde orbit design and control, intelligent sampling as well as takeoff and ascent from the far side of the moon. additionally, it successfully accomplished the world’s first automatic sampling and return from the far side of the moon, setting another world record for china's space endeavors. additionally, the new basalt fiber material and intelligent mobile camera technology, were used to unfurl a chinese national flag on the far side of the moon. these advancements have broad applications for national economic growth and the public's well being, contributing to a better quality of life. this is also a journey of cooperation. this mission involved cooperation with the european space agency (esa), france, italy, and pakistan in operating four payloads, obtaining valuable firsthand scientific data. additionally, there was collaboration in the field of telemetry, tracking, and control. space agencies from several countries, diplomats stationed in china and officials from international organizations were invited to observe the launch. after the success of the mission, heads of those organizations, as well as foreign counterparts and friends, sent us congratulations and spoke of their interest in deepening cooperation with china. i would like to express my gratitude on behalf of the cnsa. we also encourage domestic and foreign scientists to jointly conduct scientific research on lunar samples and data, and strive to obtain more original outcomes. it is particularly noteworthy that this year marks the 20th anniversary of the cpc central committee's decision to implement the lunar exploration program. over the past 20 years, those involved in the program have strengthened their responsibilities to the mission, kept moving forward until our goals are met, and advanced steadily step by step, leading to successive victories and continually turning the chinese nation's dream of embracing the moon into reality. the program has brought together thousands of research units and tens of thousands of scientific and technological workers across the country, fostering and refining the spirit of lunar exploration. it has cultivated many outstanding scientific, technical and management talents, formed a successful model for the implementation of major scientific and technological projects, built up china's core capabilities in deep space exploration, and forged a high quality and cost effective path for lunar exploration. each mission, after achieving its set goals, has conducted extended experiments, laying a more solid foundation for subsequent project tasks. for example, in the field of scientific discovery, scientists from around the world have published over 1,900 research papers based on china's lunar exploration data. chinese scientists discovered a new mineral using lunar samples collected during the chang'e 5 mission and named it changesite (y). this is the sixth mineral found on the moon by mankind. their research also proved that magmatic activities existed on the moon 1.96 billion years ago, extending the "life" of lunar volcanism 1 billion years longer than previously known. the entry of lunar samples into the "chang'e era" has greatly enriched humanity's understanding of the moon and the universe. ladies and gentlemen, deep space is boundless and infinite, while humanity's quest for knowledge is limitless. the follow up chang'e 7 and chang'e 8, and the planetary exploration missions tianwen 2 and tianwen 3, are progressing as planned. the cnsa will further conduct various forms of international exchanges and cooperation in the aerospace sector based on equality, mutual benefits, peaceful utilization and inclusive development. we look forward to joining hands with more international colleagues to make new contributions to expanding human understanding, improving human welfare and promoting the construction of a global community of shared future for mankind in outer space. thank you. next, my colleagues and i will take your questions. shou xiaoli: thank you, mr. bian. the floor is now open for questions. please state the name of the media organization you work for before asking your questions. china daily: yesterday afternoon, the reentry capsule of the chang'e 6 lunar probe was opened in beijing. the public is very interested to know, how many grams of lunar samples were retrieved this time? in addition, what challenges and difficulties did you encounter during this mission to the moon's far side? and what innovations were made during the chang'e 6 mission? bian zhigang: i'd like to invite mr. hu to answer your questions. hu hao: just like the chang'e 5 sampling mission, our plan was to bring back 2 kilograms of lunar soil during the chang'e 6 mission. the container was designed to hold exactly 2 kilograms, and cannot hold any more. we will have to wait until tomorrow to reveal whether we have achieved this goal, but we are confident that there will be surprises. originally as a backup for chang'e 5, the chang'e 6 program was intended to fulfill a new mission: working on the far side of the moon. speaking of challenges faced by the program, i believe they can be summarized in the following aspects: first, were in terms of quality and reliability. space missions are extremely complex. as a backup, it had been a long time since the chang'e 6 spacecraft was produced. all products have a lifespan as soon as they are produced, and the lifespan of chang'e 6 determined how the mission would be completed. how do we handle, replenish and replace these products with longer production times during the implementation? all these were significant challenges. to successfully complete the chang'e 6 probe mission, we made some replacements based on spare components for the chang'e 5 spacecraft. we must ensure that all products sent into space are safe and reliable. the same is true for ground based products. as the aerospace sector is a large system, only by collaborating between space and ground systems can we accomplish the mission. the quality of ground based equipment affects the reliability of the entire system. much of the equipment was manufactured during the chang'e 1 mission, so before the launch of chang'e 6, we thoroughly reviewed the quality and reliability of the spacecraft and ground equipment to ensure that the entire system was more robust, healthier and more reliable. this was our first challenge. to complete any mission, we must have a healthy body, so we always follow the principles of putting the condition of the probe and rocket first. second, the challenges brought to us by changes in technological conditions. to land and collect samples on the far side of the moon, we needed to make many compatibility changes and also some adjustments to adapt to the conditions on the moon's far side. as we know, direct communication is not possible with the moon's far side, which required us to add a relay satellite. the probe needed to be adapted to this relay satellite's requirements, which then brought us many challenges. we paid great attention to the challenges brought by the changes in technological conditions. through thorough verification and full preparation, we ensured these changes in conditions could respond to the requirements of the lunar environment and the entire system. third, the challenges in terms of planning. we started the chang'e 6 mission in august 2022, and launched the lunar probe on may 3, 2024, giving us only around a year and a half for preparation. this was a tense part of the whole project. moreover, we added international payloads and a relay satellite. we needed to develop the relay satellite from scratch, and our research team overcame multiple difficulties during this short period to carry out numerous experiments and extensive verification work. the current relay satellite was designed not only for the chang'e 6 mission, but also for subsequent missions. therefore, we needed to carry out continuous cutting edge research to ensure it met the needs of both the chang'e 6 mission and subsequent development. therefore, we carried out a lot of work in terms of research and development in the past more than one year, which was quite challenging. fourth, challenges in terms of international payload cooperation. we promised to carry 10 kilograms of international payloads on both the lander and the orbiter and we fulfilled our promise. we did a good job in carrying the payloads, which were all related to research projects. during this period of more than one year, we needed to work with international teams to jointly complete the mission, which was very challenging. we speak different languages, have different working habits, and follow different standards on research and development programs, therefore, we needed to accommodate each other as we carried out a large number of experiments. the facts show that we successfully fulfilled our mission, or in other words, we successfully addressed these challenges. these challenges are invaluable and we will draw on these experiences to perform more complicated tasks in the future. thank you. xinhua news agency: the landform is very complex on the moon's far side, where communication is limited. what advanced technologies or strategies were used to ensure the lander's safe landing and effective sampling during the 53 day intricate mission to explore the moon's far side? also, how did the research team ensure the high reliability of the probe during the research and development process? thank you. bian zhigang: this really was a huge challenge. i would like to invite mr. lin to answer your questions. lin yiming: thank you for your questions. our mission was to enable the chang'e 6 lunar probe to collect samples from the moon's far side and bring them back. at the beginning of the research and development, we were already aware of the great difficulties, challenges and risks we would face, such as the complex landform on the moon's far side and high requirements for the timing of the sampling. when the probe lifted off from the moon's far side, the ground could not provide support, hence the probe's take off mainly depended on our monitoring and control of orbit related calculations. to back up this work, our team made breakthroughs in the design and control of the lunar retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling on the moon's far side, autonomous lift off on the moon's far side, and other relevant key technologies, completing reliable and safe sampling work and bringing the samples back. as for how the mission's success was ensured, mr. hu has already mentioned related measures. i would like to add a few more. first, we designed the probe based on system engineering technologies, focusing on the probe's comprehensive integration and optimized design. when selecting the flight orbit, we used our experience from previous missions and took into account the relationship between the chang'e 6 and chang'e 5 probes, as chang'e 6 was originally designed as a backup for chang'e 5. one of the considerations was on the configuration and layout. moreover, we overcame various constraints in terms of resources, such as the area for sampling, illumination on the moon's far side, as well as measurement and control conditions, and designed a retrograde orbital flight plan, providing an optimal and highly efficient design plan for the entire system. second, emphasis was placed on risk recognition and control throughout the research and development process to ensure the lunar probe's high quality and reliability. based on the characteristics of the chang'e 6 mission, we implemented thorough measures for risk recognition and control in both technology and management, utilizing specialized methods for aerospace products. carrying forward china's space industry's spirit and fine traditions, we adhered to the "zero defect" management philosophy and maintained a rigorous and meticulous work style. in line with aerospace quality processes, we addressed every doubt, potential issue, or problem to achieve our goal of doing things right the first time. as you know, there are more than one thousand actions during the flight process, and we executed each one precisely. third, significant work was done to improve quality management from good to excellent to accomplish the mission. we established a quality management system for china's aerospace science and technology that is scientifically structured, process optimized, efficient, collaborative, and continuously improving. by managing the quality of all personnel, elements, processes, and data and carrying out a series of activities that included organizational oversight, independent evaluations, credibility building, and verification, major projects, represented by the lunar exploration program, have been successfully completed with high quality and efficiency. the complete success of the chang'e 6 mission is a historic achievement made under the strong leadership, close attention, and dedicated care of the cpc central committee with comrade xi jinping at its core. it is also a remarkable fruit achieved by leveraging the strengths of the new system for mobilizing resources nationwide to realize greater self reliance and strength in science and technology. looking forward, we will bear in mind our mission of building up china’s strength in aerospace, promote the spirit of china's space industry and lunar exploration program, and continuously implement the country's major space projects, including deep space exploration. this will enable us to contribute more to boosting china’s aerospace strength and advancing national rejuvenation. thank you. afp: u.s. laws prohibit space cooperation with china. what are your comments and views on this? will american scientists participate in the research of the new lunar samples collected by chang'e 6? thank you. bian zhigang: thank you for your questions. china has always maintained an open mind regarding aerospace exchanges and cooperation with the u.s. we have previously established working groups for space cooperation in earth and space sciences with the u.s., and we have also once established a civil space dialogue mechanism with the u.s. government. at the request of the u.s., we also created an exchange mechanism for orbital data of mars rovers, so that the two countries could jointly assess collision risks and ensure the smooth and sustained progress of both sides' mars exploration programs. however, u.s. domestic laws, such as the wolf amendment, have become obstacles impeding aerospace cooperation between the two countries. over six decades of space endeavors, china has made great achievements in this area, and all these accomplishments are the result of the hard work and wisdom of the chinese people. while the wolf amendment has hindered normal sino u.s. aerospace exchanges, it cannot impede the rapid progress of china's space development. as for your question, i believe that u.s. scientists are willing to participate in the study of the new lunar samples. if the u.s. genuinely wants to engage in normal space exchanges with china, it should take concrete measures to remove the obstacles. in the future, china will advance its space plan at its own pace and for peaceful purposes, while maintaining an open minded and inclusive attitude to embrace equal and mutually beneficial cooperation. thank you. cover news: we know that the previous 10 lunar sampling missions were conducted on the moon's near side. why did the chang'e 6 probe choose to collect samples from the south pole aitken basin on the far side of the moon this time? how does collecting soil from the far side differ from collecting it from the near side? what potential scientific advancements could this bring to our research? thank you. li chunlai: thank you for your questions. the decision to land chang'e 6 in the south pole aitken basin on the far side of the moon was based on a combination of scientific and technological considerations. technologically, as mr. hu mentioned, direct communication with earth is not possible from the far side of the moon. therefore, sampling and landing on the far side require overcoming this obstacle by launching a relay satellite to facilitate communication for sampling and landing operations on the far side of the moon. this is an important validation and enhancement of deep space communication technology. additionally, the far side of the moon has a much more complex terrain and topography compared to the near side. successfully landing and collecting samples in such an area involve overcoming many difficulties, but it also helps to advance the technological level of lunar exploration missions, laying a foundation for future operations under complex exploration conditions. in terms of scientific research, the south pole aitken basin is the largest, deepest and oldest basin discovered on the moon so far. studying its geological composition, material makeup and evolutionary history can help us understand the primary geological evolution of both the moon and the earth. to date, all the lunar samples collected by humans from previous 10 trips, including those from the chang'e 5 mission, have been collected from the moon's near side. chang'e 6 brought back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time, which will hopefully provide crucial insights into the dichotomy of the moon and help us gain a more complete understanding of its history. samples from the south pole aitken basin might include materials from the moon's deep interior or even its mantle, offering valuable data for studying the moon's internal composition. therefore, landing and sampling on the far side not only represent a significant scientific breakthrough, but also advance lunar exploration technology, highlighting the multifaceted significance of the chang'e 6 mission. the samples collected from the far side of the moon, and from the south pole aitken basin in particular, might exhibit significant differences in terms of mineral chemical composition compared to those from the near side. these differences will soon be revealed. studying these samples will help reveal the unique geological structures and material compositions of the moon's far side, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the moon's geological evolution history. in other words, with the samples collected previously, we have only understood half of the moon. the chang'e 6 sampling site is located in a vast impact basin, which may have ejected materials from the depths of the moon. these materials which were ejected during early impacts, are extremely valuable and also difficult to obtain. this offers a great opportunity to understand the internal structure and composition of the moon. the south pole aitken basin, being a massive impact crater, can provide insights into early impact history and even the early impact processes on earth, helping us to understand the history of the early evolution and impacts of the solar system, and advancing comparative planetology research. thank you. hu hao: i would like to add something. mr. li has provided a very professional introduction, so i will offer a "less professional" perspective. during the sampling process, we noticed that the soil from the far side of the moon seems different from that of the near side. the soil from the near side is relatively soft and loose, while the soil from the far side seems different. therefore, we have high expectations and hope that scientists will make significant new discoveries. thank you. television broadcasts limited: this mission took a total of 53 days and marks the first time that humans have collected lunar soil samples from the far side of the moon. what were the most difficult and challenging parts of the entire mission? a team from hong kong polytechnic university (polyu) participated in the development of the sampling equipment for the chang'e 6 mission. how did their design help the team overcome these difficulties? will there be more collaborations of this kind in the future? thank you. hu hao: the lunar sample collection received special support from polyu, as the surface sampling and packing system used in this mission was jointly designed and developed by professor yung kai leung 's team at the university. the process was quite challenging because the school does not traditionally engage in aerospace design and manufacturing. despite this, they overcame numerous difficulties. the team was outstanding, diligent and meticulous, ensuring that the system was flawless before launch. this was true for both the chang'e 5 and chang'e 6 missions. in fact, i believe the chang'e 6 sampling operation went even more smoothly than chang'e 5, collecting more samples than anticipated. the results are promising regarding the amount collected. moreover, we hope that more of our hong kong compatriots can get involved. during the initial phase of research, many universities and research institutions in hong kong applied for and received lunar samples. we also hope that these participating institutions and schools in hong kong will produce excellent results. the outcomes of the chang'e 6 mission look very promising, and we encourage their enthusiastic participation. thank you. phoenix tv: we understand that the lunar soil samples collected by chang'e 6 come with high expectations. what is the research and application mechanism for these samples? are foreign scientific research teams eligible to apply? thank you. bian zhigang: i will invite mr. liu yunfeng, who oversees international cooperation, to answer this question. liu yunfeng: the acquisition of samples from chang'e 6 has garnered significant attention. china has been actively promoting international cooperation since the beginning of lunar and deep space exploration. to foster effective joint research and applications in the field of lunar and deep space exploration, and to facilitate the international sharing of scientific achievements, the cnsa has formulated the lunar sample management regulations and the rules for management of international cooperation in lunar samples and scientific data. these regulations detail the application process for lunar samples research and provide specific information on international cooperation. china welcomes researchers worldwide to apply according to the relevant procedures and share the benefits. thank you. cgtn: this year marks the 20th anniversary of china's lunar exploration program. over the past 20 years, we have made remarkable achievements, from taking photos of the moon to the first landing on the far side of the moon and bringing back lunar samples. looking ahead, what are china's plans for deep space exploration? what key projects will be prioritized in china's space program? thank you. bian zhigang: in the future, china's deep space exploration will focus on two aspects: lunar exploration and planetary exploration. in terms of lunar exploration, following the complete success of the chang'e 6 mission, we will proceed with the chang'e 7 and chang'e 8 missions. the chang'e 7 mission is mainly to survey resources at the lunar south pole , while chang'e 8 will conduct technical verification of the in situ utilization of lunar resources. in the future, we plan to collaborate with international partners to build an international lunar research station (ilrs) , promoting shared use and benefit from our lunar exploration results. in terms of planetary exploration, china has approved four missions to be accomplished within 10 15 years. among them, the tianwen  1 mars mission, which was a complete success in 2021, marked china's advancement beyond lunar exploration. our future missions will include asteroid exploration, a mars sample return mission, and the exploration of other planetary systems. these missions aim to advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the solar system, study the impact of small celestial bodies and solar activity on earth, and search for signs of extraterrestrial life, among other scientific goals. around 2025 , tianwen 2 will embark on its main mission of asteroid exploration. it will aim at a near earth asteroid for companion flight and sample retrieval. the tianwen 3 mars mission, set for around 2030, aims to return samples from mars to earth. tianwen  4 is scheduled to explore the jupiter system by around 2030. currently, we are intensively working on the key technologies and the detailed implementation plans for both the tianwen 3 and tianwen 4 missions. additionally, we are also deliberating major national science and technology projects, including heavy lift launch vehicles and reusable space transport systems. in the future, we will also strengthen basic research, accelerate the r&d of key and core technologies, and promote the innovative development of space science, space technology, and space application. i think we may have several more press conferences here over the next 10 years. thank you. beijing youth daily: as we eagerly anticipate the exciting discoveries that the chang'e 6 lunar probe will bring back, i would like to inquire about the findings from the 1,731 grams of lunar samples retrieved by chang'e 5 in december 2020. over the past three and a half years, what progress has been made in researching these lunar samples? have we uncovered any secrets about the moon? thank you. li chunlai: it has been over three years since the chang'e 5 mission retrieved lunar samples, specifically basalts collected from the near side of the moon. since then, chinese scientists have conducted systematic research on these samples and achieved numerous breakthroughs, many of which have been published in major academic journals such as national science review, science bulletin, nature and science. more than 100 high quality journal articles have been published in this short period, covering topics such as the moon's geology, geochemistry, lunar chronology, space weathering, lunar impact glasses, and the utilization of lunar soil. one of the most significant discoveries is that the basalts retrieved by the chang'e 5 probe were found to have been formed by volcanic eruptions approximately 2 billion years ago. distinct from the research results on older samples returned by the apollo missions, this discovery has extended the known period of lunar volcanism by nearly 1 billion years. in addition, the chang'e 5 samples have been identified as a new type of basalt, formed from a previously unknown magmatic activity. this discovery fills the gap in lunar sample studies conducted by the united states and the former soviet union. moreover, a special mineral named changesite (y) was also discovered in the chang'e 5 samples, and other chemical features of these samples indicate that volcanic activity during the moon's geological evolution may have occurred in a unique environment. chinese scientists have also thoroughly studied the glass materials in the chang'e 5 lunar regolith samples, detecting a variety of space weathered hydroxyl radicals and iron nanoparticles. therefore, the research results have been quite fruitful. thank you. liu yunfeng: allow me to share an additional update. china has initiated the first application and review process for international participants to study chang'e 5 lunar samples. we will inform the media at the appropriate time once the results are available. china media group: my question for the spokesperson: general secretary xi jinping noted in his congratulatory message on the complete success of the chang'e 6 mission that over the past 20 years, all those involved in the project have embarked on a path of high quality and highly effective lunar exploration. how do you define "high quality" and "highly effective" in the context of lunar exploration? what are the specific examples? thank you. bian zhigang: i believe this is evident in every aspect of our work. our lunar exploration project has been ongoing for 20 years. over the past two decades, we have faced this momentous project head on and completed the engineering and scientific tasks beyond the set targets, all within the specified timeframe and budget. i'll leave more details to mr. hu. hu hao: i have been involved in this project for quite some time, so i'll break it down for you. china's lunar exploration project started relatively late, as multiple countries had already launched their projects before us. around the time of the chang'e 1 probe, other countries had already conducted more than 100 lunar exploration activities. therefore, it was a late start for china. however, we made sound plans, drawing upon the experiences of other countries, and made appropriate arrangements in accordance with china's national conditions. we proposed a three step lunar exploration strategy at that time: "orbiting, landing, and returning." this has advanced the country's overall space exploration technology, nurtured a group of talented individuals, and improved our understanding of the moon. with reasonable costs and a comparatively short period, this project has yielded significant results. today, the reason why some foreign experts and institutions have taken the initiative to work with us in exploring the moon is our hard work over the past two decades. our success has ensured our credibility and boosted the confidence of all participants. in addition, we are also witnessing improvements in technological capacities and their enabling conditions. at the time of the chang'e 1 probe, we lacked the chinese deep space network , the measurement techniques related to the re entry corridor , and the ability to conduct high speed re entry and return at escape velocity. however, these challenges have been overcome in the past two decades. china has not only landed on the moon but also reached mars. over this period, we have forged a path, developed a skilled team, and achieved numerous accomplishments. thank you. nanfang daily, nanfang plus: the chang'e 6 spacecraft carried international payloads from france, italy, the esa, and pakistan. could you provide details on these collaborations? what additional international cooperation projects are planned for future lunar and deep space exploration missions? thank you. bian zhigang: as you mentioned earlier, china is committed to collaborating fully with global peers in aerospace exploration. i'll pass the floor to mr. liu yunfeng for further details. liu yunfeng: thank you for your question. the situation of the international payloads on chang'e 6 has been of great interest to everyone. mr. bian has already introduced that there were a total of four international payloads. i will introduce them one by one. on may 8, the cube satellite from pakistan successfully separated from the chang'e 6 probe after the near moon braking maneuver, captured images of the moon, and transmitted them back, thus successfully completing its mission. on may 10, the cnsa handed over the data from the cube satellite to the pakistani side. on june 2, after the lander and ascender module landed on the moon, france's lunar radon detector, and the lunar surface negative ion analyzer of the esa, smoothly carried out scientific explorations. italy's laser retroreflector is working normally; the radon detector operated on the lunar surface for 32 hours, and the lunar surface negative ion analyzer functioned for 3 hours and 50 minutes. it should be said that the performance of these international payloads has been outstanding. china has always adhered to the principles of equality and mutual benefit, peaceful use, and inclusive development, actively carrying out international cooperation in space. in the chang'e 4, chang'e 5, chang'e 6 and tianwen 1 missions, china has conducted various forms of international cooperation with space science and technology institutions in many countries, including payload carrying, measurement and control support, orbital data exchange, and joint research on lunar samples. for the upcoming chang'e 7 mission, six international payloads have been selected. last year, the announcement for international cooperation opportunities for chang'e 8 was released, offering around 200 kilograms of payload space to the international community, while more than 30 cooperation applications have so far been received. in the ilrs project, the cnsa has signed cooperation agreements with more than 10 countries. currently, china is formulating feasibility studies and will collaborate with partners on various aspects such as tasks, project design, joint implementation and scientific data sharing for future projects. thank you. shou xiaoli: let's continue with the questions. two journalists have raised their hands. these will be the last two questions. now tv: the china manned space engineering office (cmseo) previously announced the completion of the selection process for the fourth batch of reserve astronauts, including a payload expert from hong kong. has this selected individual started training? when do you estimate that she will begin participating in the country's space missions? are there any plans to recruit more hong kong compatriots to participate? thank you. bian zhigang: thank you for your questions. the related work is currently in progress. please follow the official updates from the cmseo for further information. thank you. shou xiaoli: the last question. the poster news app: in this chang'e 6 mission, during the processes of launching, orbiting, landing, sampling, ascending and returning, what eye catching small details did you meticulously design? what are the stories behind them, and could you share some with us? thank you. hu hao: i'll share one detail that everyone is very interested in. during the launch, we did not expect such heavy rain, which made the long march 5 rocket experience significant rain right from the start. this was unexpected. we initially thought the weather would be fine, but it ended up raining heavily. however, a rainbow later appeared, which was a pleasant surprise. additionally, another point of great interest is the work conducted on the moon. there were questions earlier about the pattern left on the moon's surface during the sampling process. this is a matter of interpretation; it was not done deliberately but has indeed sparked people's imaginations. the way it was formed led many to speculate whether it was intentional. however, it was not. nonetheless, it is indeed very interesting. this is something subject to interpretation, and please appreciate the mystery behind this. that is all from me. thank you, everyone. lin yiming: the question raised by the journalist just now was particularly good. after the lander and ascender touched down on the lunar surface, we took a photograph of the whole scene. but how was this photo taken? our researchers are very clever. as previously mentioned, the lunar exploration project is of high quality and high efficiency. we installed a very nimble, short term use camera where the probe's counterweights were placed. after the main mission was completed, the camera detached from the lander and took a complete photo of the lunar surface. that's all from me. thank you. shou xiaoli: thank you to all the speakers and the journalists. today's press conference is hereby concluded. goodbye, everyone. translated and edited by xu xiaoxuan, ma yujia, zhou jing, lin liyao, qin qi, yan bin, zhu bochen, zhang rui, huang shan, li huiru, liu qiang, wang yanfang, yuan fang, liu sitong, wang yiming, wang qian, david ball, and jay birbeck. in case of any discrepancy between the english and chinese texts, the chinese version is deemed to prevail. /7 shou xiaoli /7 bian zhigang /7 hu hao /7 lin yiming /7 liu yunfeng /7 li chunlai /7 group photo scio briefing on intelligent transformation and upgrading of water transport, preparations for 2024 maritime day of china scio briefing on promoting high quality development: national energy administration scio briefing on advancing law based cyberspace governance for high quality development of china scio briefing on promoting high quality development: ministry of water resources

supported by china said two of its astronauts spent nine hours outside the tiangong space station. the longest previous spacewalk, by americans, was eight hours and 56 minutes. by chris buckley the spacewalk appears to be the longest in history, barely breaking a record set by american astronauts in 2001. by the new york times lunar exploration in the 21st century offers a unique opportunity to unite us. by michelle hanlon the commercial company space pioneer said the accident occurred because of a structural failure in the connection between the rocket and its testing platform. by yan zhuang and john liu the chang’e 6 mission’s sample, which might hold clues about the origins of the moon and earth, is the latest achievement of china’s lunar exploration program. by katrina miller con este alunizaje, la misión chang’e 6 está más cerca de volver con muestras de suelo y roca de la parte del satélite que nunca se ve desde la tierra. by yan zhuang the landing brings the chang’e 6 mission a step closer to being the first to return a sample from the part of the moon that’s never seen from earth. by yan zhuang citing rapid advances by china and russia, the united states is building an extensive capacity to fight battles in space. by eric lipton the chang’e 6 mission aims to bring back samples from the lunar far side. by cctv via associated press if successful, the chang’e 6 mission will be the first in history to return a sample from a part of the moon that we never get to see from earth. by katrina miller

follow: china’s chang’e 6 lunar module returned to earth tuesday, successfully completing its historic mission to collect the first ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program. the reentry module “successfully landed” in a designated zone in china’s northern inner mongolia region just after 2 p.m. local time, according to state broadcaster cctv. a livestream carried by cctv showed the module touching down via parachute to a round of applause in the mission control room. “the chang’e 6 lunar exploration mission has been a complete success,” said zhang kejian, head of the china national space administration (cnsa), from the control room. a search team located the module minutes after its landing, according to cctv. the livestream showed a worker carrying out checks on the module, which lay on grassland beside a chinese flag. the successful mission is a key milestone in china’s “eternal dream”   as articulated by chinese leader xi jinping   to establish the country as a dominant space power and comes as a number of countries, including the united states, also ramp up their own lunar exploration programs. in a congratulatory message tuesday, xi hailed the mission as “another landmark achievement in building a strong country in space, and science and technology.” beijing plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and build a research base at the lunar south pole   a region believed to contain water ice, where the us also hopes to establish a base. the chang’e 6 probe is expected to have returned to earth with up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks from the lunar far side, which will be analyzed by researchers in china before being opened for access by international scientists, according to the cnsa. results from the analysis of the samples could help scientists peer back into the evolution of the moon, the earth and the solar system   while also aiding china’s aim to utilize resources on the moon to further its exploration there, experts say. the samples were collected using a drill and robotic arm from a location within the sprawling south pole aitken basin, an impact crater formed some 4 billion years ago on the moon’s far side, which is never visible to earth. an ascender then lifted them off the lunar surface and transferred them in lunar orbit to a re entry vehicle, which then traveled back to earth after separating from its lunar orbiter. the progress of chang’e 6   china’s most technically complex mission to date   has been followed with intense interest within the country since its launch on may 3. earlier this month, images of the lunar lander displaying the chinese flag and appearing to have drilled the character “zhong”   shorthand for china   on the lunar surface went viral on chinese social media. the return of the lunar module tuesday also comes after suspected debris from a separate chinese rocket was seen plummeting to the ground in southwest china on saturday, leaving a trail of bright yellow smoke and sending villagers running, according to videos on chinese social media and sent to cnn by a local witness. the far side of the moon has been a point of fascination for scientists since they first peered at it in grainy, black and white images captured by the soviet union’s luna 3 spacecraft in 1959   and realized how different it was from the side facing earth. absent were the lunar maria, or large, dark plains of cooled lava that pockmark much of the moon’s near side. instead, the far side appeared to show a record of impact   covered in craters of different sizes and ages. decades later, and some five years since the chang’e 4 mission made china the first and only country to complete a soft landing on the far side, scientists both from china and around the world have high hopes for the information that can be gleaned from the samples. related article china’s chang’e 6 probe lifts off with samples from moon’s far side in historic first “it’s a gold mine … a treasure chest,” said james head, a professor of planetary geosciences at brown university, who together with european scientists, collaborated with chinese scientists analyzing samples from the chang’e 5 mission that returned near side samples. “international scientists are totally excited about the mission,” he said. head pointed to the destruction of many clues of evolutionary history due to the shifting of the earth’s plate tectonics and erosion that has obscured the planet’s first several billion years, including the period when life emerged. “the moon is really the cornerstone for understanding that because its surface does not have plate tectonics   it’s actually a frozen record of what it was like in our early solar system,” he said, adding that understanding the moon’s makeup can not only aid our understanding of the past but future exploration of the solar system. while the stated focus of the chang’e 6 mission is these broader scientific questions, experts say analysis of the composition and physical properties of the samples could also help advance efforts to learn how to use resources on the moon for future lunar and space exploration. related article suspected chinese rocket debris seen falling over village after launch, video shows “the (chang’e 6) mission is focused on answering specific scientific questions, but the lunar soils collected from the mission can support future resource utilization,” said yuqi qian, a planetary geologist at the university of hong kong. lunar soil could be used for 3 d printing to produce bricks for construction of research bases on the moon, while some scientists were already working on finding more economical and practical technologies to extract gases like helium 3, oxygen and hydrogen from the soil, which could support further lunar exploration, he said. once they receive the samples, chinese scientists are expected to share data and carry out joint research with international partners, before beijing later opens the samples for access by international teams, according to statements from cnsa officials. international teams had to wait roughly three years to apply for access to samples from the chang’e 5 mission, but some of the earliest published research on those samples was from teams of chinese and international scientists. chang’e 6   the sixth of eight scheduled missions in the chang’e series   is widely seen as an important step forward for china’s aim to put astronauts on the moon in the coming years. “each step in the sample return mission process is exactly what you need to do to land humans on the moon and return,” head said. “it shouldn’t be lost on anyone that while, on one hand, this is a scientific mission, the command and control aspects (are) exactly what you need for lunar human exploration as well as things like mars sample return.” china’s ambitions to send astronauts to the moon come as the us targets launching a crewed “artemis” mission as early as 2026   in what would be america’s first such attempt in more than 50 years. nasa chief bill nelson has appeared to point to china’s pace as a driver in us progress, telling lawmakers in april that the two countries were “in effect … in a race.” “my concern is that they (get to the south pole) first and then say, ‘this is our area, you stay out,’ because the south pole of the moon is an important part … we think that there is water there and if there’s water, then there’s rocket fuel,” nelson said. related article america’s military has the edge in space. china and russia are in a counterspace race to disrupt it china has sought to dispel concerns about its ambitions, reiterating its position that space exploration should “benefit all mankind” and actively recruiting country partners for its planned international lunar research station. china and the us are not alone in eyeing the national prestige, potential scientific benefits, access to resources and further deep space exploration that successful moon missions could bring. last year, india landed its first spacecraft on the moon, while russia’s first lunar mission in decades ended in failure when its luna 25 probe crashed into the moon’s surface. in january, japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, though its moon sniper lander faced power issues due to an incorrect landing angle. the following month, im 1, a nasa funded mission designed by texas based private firm intuitive machines, touched down close to the lunar south pole. china is scheduled to launch its chang’e 7 mission to the lunar south pole region in 2026, while chang’e 8 will be launched in 2028 to carry out tests aimed at utilization of lunar resources in preparation for the lunar research station, chinese space authorities said earlier this year. this story has been updated with additional developments. © 2025 cable news network. a warner bros. discovery company. all rights reserved. cnn sans ™ & © 2016 cable news network.

search the news, stories & people personalise the news and stay in the know emergency backstory newsletters 中文新闻 berita bahasa indonesia tok pisin by lewis wiseman topic:space exploration china has launched a new crew to its orbiting space station and has set a target of putting an astronaut on the moon by 2030. three astronauts were on board the shenzhou 19 spaceship when it took off atop a long march 2f rocket before dawn on wednesday from the gobi desert. this mission has laid down a marker of china’s intentions to expand its exploration of outer space with missions to the moon and beyond. nasa has said it is now in a space race with china, but experts believe china may already be leading in some fields of space exploration. a long march 2f rocket carrying the shenzhou 19 spacecraft takes off from the jiuquan satellite launch center. (reuters: florence lo) china built its own space station after it was excluded from the international space station in 2011. that was after us authorities imposed limits on how much nasa could cooperate with its chinese counterpart. the tiangong space station was launched in 2022. since then china has sent four crewed missions to the outpost. richard de grijs, a professor of astrophysics at macquarie university and executive director at the international space science institute, says china is leading in many areas of space exploration. "actively avoiding engagement with china during the ongoing space developments is perhaps not a wise decision currently, and those countries [that are doing so] may be shooting themselves in the foot," he said. "china is starting to lead the world in a lot of these fields, and if we go off their track record of achieving what they plan to, then they will continue to lead." lin xigiang, deputy director of the china manned space agency (cmsa), says the current mission, which includes wang haoze, china's first ever female astronaut, will carry out more than 80 experiments to explore "new technologies". one of those experiments will look into ways to build a base on the moon. on board the spacecraft are materials called "moon bricks", which chinese scientists believe could be the secret to building on the far side of the moon. scientists simulated lunar soil to make the "moon bricks" and it is hoped the bricks will be able to withstand the moon's harsh environment. the three astronauts walk before a crowd ahead of the launch. (reuters: florence lo) the fast development of china's manned and unmanned space program has alarmed other space powers, including the us. currently, there are only three countries with independent manned space programs: china, russia and the us. russia is currently listed as a partner with china’s manned space program. china has claimed that some western countries have been trying to steal secrets from its space program. "in recent years, some western countries have formed space combat forces, exercised space action capabilities and even regarded (china) as a major competitor in the space field," the ministry said. lin xiqiang of the china manned space program speaks ahead of the latest launch. (reuters: florence lo) this is something that nasa has hit back on, with administrator bill nelson saying china may be hiding the true intentions of its space program. "china has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive," he said speaking in april. "we believe that a lot of their so called civilian space program is a military program. we are in a race." but as professor de grijs sees it, this isn't anything like a race for china. "china's space program is a chance for the cmsa to demonstrate their technologies and the steps forward that they have taken in space travel," he said. "they operate in five year plans and they stick to those plans very carefully, it isn't a race for china, they aren't phased by other countries." china's focus has now turned to the goal of putting astronauts on the moon by 2030. in may this year, china's chang'e 6 lunar probe landed on the far side of the moon and returned to earth successfully. while it was uncrewed, its safe arrival back in china was a big feat. the mission made china the first country to retrieve samples from the moon's far side. now china is already training astronauts for a moon landing. the training will include driving lunar rovers and carrying heavy loads on the moon, according to the cmsa. china has declared it wants to be a "global space science power" by 2050. topic:federal government topic:government and politics topic:unrest, conflict and war topic:explainer analysis by richard willingham topic:explainer topic:government and politics topic:cricket china space exploration topic:federal government topic:government and politics topic:unrest, conflict and war topic:explainer analysis by richard willingham topic:cross country topic:mixed martial arts topic:state and territory elections topic:plants we acknowledge aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples as the first australians and traditional custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. this service may include material from agence france presse (afp), aptn, reuters, aap, cnn and the bbc world service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. aest = australian eastern standard time which is 10 hours ahead of gmt (greenwich mean time)

beijing, jan. 28 (xinhua)    the state council information office of the people's republic of china published a white paper titled "china's space program: a 2021 perspective" on friday. following is the full text of the white paper: china's space program: a 2021 perspective the state council information office of the people's republic of china january 2022 preamble "to explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build china into a space power is our eternal dream," stated president xi jinping. the space industry is a critical element of the overall national strategy, and china upholds the principle of exploration and utilization of outer space for peaceful purposes. since 2016, china's space industry has made rapid and innovative progress, manifested by a steady improvement in space infrastructure, the completion and operation of the beidou navigation satellite system, the completion of the high resolution earth observation system, steady improvement of the service ability of satellite communications and broadcasting, the conclusion of the last step of the three step lunar exploration program ("orbit, land, and return"), the first stages in building the space station, and a smooth interplanetary voyage and landing beyond the earth moon system by tianwen 1, followed by the exploration of mars. these achievements have attracted worldwide attention. in the next five years, china will integrate space science, technology and applications while pursuing the new development philosophy, building a new development model and meeting the requirements for high quality development. it will start a new journey towards a space power. the space industry will contribute more to china's growth as a whole, to global consensus and common effort with regard to outer space exploration and utilization, and to human progress. we are publishing this white paper to offer a brief introduction to china's major achievements in this field since 2016 and its main tasks in the next five years, in order to help the international community better understand china's space industry. i. a new journey towards a strong space presence 1. mission the mission of china's space program is: to explore outer space to expand humanity's understanding of the earth and the cosmos; to facilitate global consensus on our shared responsibility in utilizing outer space for peaceful purposes and safeguarding its security for the benefit of all humanity; to meet the demands of economic, scientific and technological development, national security and social progress; and to raise the scientific and cultural levels of the chinese people, protect china's national rights and interests, and build up its overall strength. 2. vision china aims to strengthen its space presence in an all round manner: to enhance its capacity to better understand, freely access, efficiently use, and effectively manage space; to defend national security, lead self reliance and self improvement efforts in science and technology, and promote high quality economic and social development; to advocate sound and efficient governance of outer space, and pioneer human progress; and to make a positive contribution to china's socialist modernization and to peace and progress for all humanity. 3. principles china's space industry is subject to and serves the overall national strategy. china adheres to the principles of innovation driven, coordinated, efficient, and peaceful progress based on cooperation and sharing to ensure a high quality space industry.   innovation driven development china puts innovation at the core of its space industry. it boosts state strategic scientific and technological strength in the space industry, implements major space programs, strengthens original innovation, optimizes the environment for innovation, achieves industrial production as early as possible, and grows china's independent capacity to build a safe space industry.   coordination and efficiency china adopts a holistic approach in building its space industry. it mobilizes and guides different sectors to take part in and contribute to this key industry, and coordinates all relevant activities under an overall plan. it ensures that technology plays a greater role in promoting and guiding space science and applications, and it facilitates the growth of new forms and models of business for the industry. these measures aim to raise the quality and overall performance of china's space industry.   for peaceful purposes china has always advocated the use of outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes any attempt to turn outer space into a weapon or battlefield or launch an arms race in outer space. china develops and utilizes space resources in a prudent manner, takes effective measures to protect the space environment, ensures that space remains peaceful and clean, and guarantees that its space activities benefit humanity.   cooperation and sharing china always combines independence and self reliance with opening to the outside world. it actively engages in high level international exchanges and cooperation, and expands global public services for space technology and products. it takes an active part in solving major challenges facing humanity, helps to realize the goals of the united nations 2030 agenda for sustainable development, and facilitates global consensus and common effort with regard to outer space exploration and utilization. ii. development of space technology and systems china's space industry serves its major strategic needs, and targets cutting edge technology that leads the world. spearheaded by the major space projects, the country has accelerated research into core technologies, stepped up their application, and redoubled its efforts to develop space technology and systems. as a result, china's capacity to enter and return from space, and its ability to engage in space exploration, utilization and governance have grown markedly along a sustainable path. 1. space transport system from 2016 to december 2021, 207 launch missions were completed, including 183 by the long march carrier rocket series. the total launch attempts exceeded 400. the long march carrier rockets are being upgraded towards non toxic and pollution free launch, and they are becoming smarter boosted by modular technology. the long march 5 and long march 5b carrier rockets have been employed for regular launches; long march 8 and long march 7a have made their maiden flights, with increased payload capacity. china now provides a variety of launch vehicle services. the long march 11 carrier rocket has achieved commercial launch from the sea; the smart dragon 1, kuaizhou 1a, hyperbola 1, ceres 1 and other commercial vehicles have been successfully launched; successful demonstration flight tests on reusable launch vehicles have been carried out. in the next five years, china will continue to improve the capacity and performance of its space transport system, and move faster to upgrade launch vehicles. it will further expand the launch vehicle family, send into space new generation manned carrier rockets and high thrust solid fuel carrier rockets, and speed up the r&d of heavy lift launch vehicles. it will continue to strengthen research into key technologies for reusable space transport systems, and conduct test flights accordingly. in response to the growing need for regular launches, china will develop new rocket engines, combined cycle propulsion, and upper stage technologies to improve its capacity to enter and return from space, and make space entry and exit more efficient. 2. space infrastructure (1) satellite remote sensing system the space based section of the china high resolution earth observation system has been largely completed, enabling high spatial resolution, high temporal resolution and high spectrum resolution earth observation. china now provides improved land observation services, having launched the ziyuan 3 03 earth resources satellite, the huanjing jianzai 2a/2b satellites for environmental disaster management, a high resolution multi mode imaging satellite, a hyper spectral observation satellite, and a number of commercial remote sensing satellites. in ocean observation, china is now able to view multiple indexes of contiguous waters around the globe on all scales, with high resolution images from the haiyang 1c/1d satellites and the haiyang 2b/2c/2d satellites. china's ability to observe the global atmosphere has achieved a significant increase. its new generation fengyun 4a/4b meteorological satellites in the geostationary orbit are able to perform all weather, precise and uninterrupted atmospheric monitoring and disaster monitoring to boost response capability. the successful launches of fengyun 3d/3e satellites enable coordinated morning, afternoon and twilight monitoring, and the fengyun 2h satellite provides monitoring services for countries and regions participating in the belt and road initiative. with further improvements to the ground system of its remote sensing satellites, china is now able to provide remote sensing satellite data receiving and quick processing services across the world. (2) satellite communications and broadcasting system china has made steady progress in developing fixed communications and broadcasting satellite network, which now covers more areas with greater capacity. the zhongxing 6c and zhongxing 9b satellites ensure the uninterrupted, stable operation of broadcasting and television services. the zhongxing 16 and apstar 6d satellites, each with a 50gbps capacity, signify that satellite communications in china have reached the stage of high capacity service. the mobile communications and broadcasting satellite network has expanded with the launch of the tiantong 1 02/03 satellites, operating in tandem with the tiantong 1 01 satellite, to provide voice, short message and data services for hand held terminal users in china, its neighboring areas, and certain parts of the asia pacific. the relay satellite system is being upgraded with the launch of the tianlian 1 05 and tianlian 2 01 satellites, giving a powerful boost to capacity. the satellite communications and broadcasting ground system has been improved, to form a space ground integrated network that provides satellite communications and broadcasting, internet, internet of things, and information services around the globe. (3) satellite navigation system the completion and operation of the 30 satellite beidou navigation satellite system (bds 3) represents the successful conclusion of the system's three step strategy and its capacity to serve the world. beidou's world leading services include positioning, navigation, timing, regional and global short message communication, global search and rescue, ground based and satellite based augmentation, and precise point positioning. in the next five years, china will continue to improve its space infrastructure, and integrate remote sensing, communications, navigation, and positioning satellite technologies. it will: · upgrade its spatial information services featuring extensive connection, precise timing and positioning, and all dimension sensoring; · develop satellites for geostationary microwave monitoring, new type ocean color observation, carbon monitoring of the territorial ecosystem, and atmospheric environmental monitoring; · develop dual antenna x band interferometric synthetic aperture radar (insar), land water resources and other satellite technology, for efficient, comprehensive earth observation and data acquisition across the globe; · build a satellite communications network with high and low orbit coordination, test new communications satellites for commercial application, and build a second generation data relay satellite system; · study and research navigation communications integration, low orbit augmentation and other key technologies for the next generation beidou navigation satellite system, and develop a more extensive, more integrated and smarter national positioning, navigation and timing (pnt) system; · continue to improve the ground systems for remote sensing, communications and navigation satellites. 3. manned spaceflight the tianzhou 1 cargo spacecraft has docked with the earth orbiting tiangong 2 space laboratory. with breakthroughs in key technologies for cargo transport and in orbit propellant replenishment, china has successfully completed the second phase of its manned spaceflight project. the launch of the tianhe core module marks a solid step in building china's space station. the tianzhou 2 and tianzhou 3 cargo spacecraft and the shenzhou 12 and shenzhou 13 manned spacecraft, together with the tianhe core module to which they have docked, form an assembly in steady operation. six astronauts have worked in china's space station, performing extravehicular activities, in orbit maintenance, and scientific experiments. in the next five years, china will continue to implement its manned spaceflight project. it plans to: · launch the wentian and mengtian experimental modules, the xuntian space telescope, the shenzhou manned spacecraft, and the tianzhou cargo spacecraft; · complete china's space station and continue operations, build a space laboratory on board, and have astronauts on long term assignments performing large scale scientific experiments and maintenance; · continue studies and research on the plan for a human lunar landing, develop new generation manned spacecraft, and research key technologies to lay a foundation for exploring and developing cislunar space. 4. deep space exploration (1) lunar exploration achieving relay communications through the queqiao satellite, the chang'e 4 lunar probe performed humanity's first soft landing on the far side of the moon, and conducted roving exploration. the chang'e 5 lunar probe brought back 1,731 g of samples from the moon, marking china's first successful extraterrestrial sampling and return, and the completion of its three step lunar exploration program of orbiting, landing and return. (2) planetary exploration the tianwen 1 mars probe orbited and landed on mars; the zhurong mars rover explored the planet and left china's first mark there. china has achieved a leap from cislunar to interplanetary exploration. in the next five years, china will continue with lunar and planetary exploration. it will: · launch the chang'e 6 lunar probe to collect and bring back samples from the polar regions of the moon; · launch the chang'e 7 lunar probe to perform a precise landing in the moon's polar regions and a hopping detection in lunar shadowed area; · complete r&d on the key technology of chang'e 8, and work with other countries, international organizations and partners to build an international research station on the moon; · launch asteroid probes to sample near earth asteroids and probe main belt comets; · complete key technological research on mars sampling and return, exploration of the jupiter system, and so forth; · study plans for boundary exploration of the solar system. 5. space launch sites and telemetry, tracking and command (tt&c) (1) space launch sites adaptive improvements have been completed at the jiuquan, taiyuan and xichang launch sites, with new launch pads installed at jiuquan for the commercial launch of liquid fuel rockets, and the wenchang launch site entering service. china has formed a launch site network covering both coastal and inland areas, high and low altitudes, and various trajectories to satisfy the launch needs of manned spaceships, space station modules, deep space probes and all kinds of satellites. in addition, its first sea launch site has begun operation. (2) space tt&c china's leap from cislunar to interplanetary tt&c communications, with growing space based tt&c capacity, represents a significant progress. its space tt&c network has improved to form an integrated space ground tt&c network providing security, reliability, quick response, flexible access, efficient operation and diverse services. tt&c missions of the shenzhou and tianzhou spacecraft series, tianhe core module, chang'e lunar probe series, and tianwen 1 mars probe have been completed successfully. tt&c station networks for commercial satellites are growing quickly. in the next five years, china will strengthen unified technical standard setting for its space products, and on this basis will: · further adapt the existing launch site system to better serve most launch missions, and make launch sites smarter, more reliable and more cost effective to support high intensity and diversified launch missions; · build commercial launch pads and launch sites to meet different commercial launch needs; · improve the space tt&c network in terms of organization, technology and methodology, grow the capacity to utilize and integrate space  and ground based tt&c resources, and build a space tt&c network providing ubiquitous coverage and connections; · coordinate the operation and management of the national space system for greater efficiency; · strengthen the deep space tt&c communications network to support missions probing the moon and mars. 6. experiments on new technologies china has launched a number of new technological test satellites, and tested new technologies such as the common platforms of new generation communications satellites, very high throughput satellites' telecommunication payload, ka band communications, satellite ground high speed laser communications, and new electric propulsion. in the next five years, china will focus on new technology engineering and application, conduct in orbit tests of new space materials, devices and techniques, and test new technologies in these areas: · smart self management of spacecraft; · space mission extension vehicle; · innovative space propulsion; · in orbit service and maintenance of spacecraft; · space debris cleaning. 7. space environment governance with a growing database, china's space debris monitoring system is becoming more capable of collision warning and space event perception and response, effectively ensuring the safety of in orbit spacecraft. in compliance with the space debris mitigation guidelines and the guidelines for the long term sustainability of outer space activities, china has applied upper stage passivation to all its carrier rockets, and completed end of life active deorbit of the tiangong 2 and other spacecraft, making a positive contribution to mitigating space debris. progress has been made in the search and tracking of near earth objects and in data analysis. a basic space climate service system is now in place, capable of providing services in space climate monitoring, early warning, and forecasting, and is providing broader applications. in the next five years, china will continue to expand its space environment governance system. it will: · strengthen space traffic control; · improve its space debris monitoring system, cataloguing database, and early warning services; · conduct in orbit maintenance of spacecraft, collision avoidance and control, and space debris mitigation, to ensure the safe, stable and orderly operation of the space system; · strengthen the protection of its space activities, assets and other interests by boosting capacity in disaster backup and information protection, and increasing invulnerability and survivability; · study plans for building a near earth object defense system, and increase the capacity of near earth object monitoring, cataloguing, early warning, and response; · build an integrated space ground space climate monitoring system, and continue to improve relevant services to effectively respond to catastrophic space climate events. iii. developing and expanding space application industry to serve the economy and society, china has promoted public and commercial application of its satellites and space technology, growing the industry towards greater efficiency. 1. boosting public services with satellites the service capacity of satellite applications has markedly improved. the significant role of satellites is seen in the protection of resources and the eco environment, disaster prevention and mitigation, management of emergencies, weather forecasting and climate change response, and also felt in social management and public services, urbanization, coordinated regional development, and poverty eradication. the space industry helps to improve people's lives. the satellite remote sensing system has been used by almost all departments at national and provincial levels to conduct emergency monitoring of over 100 major and catastrophic natural disasters around the country. it provides services to tens of thousands of domestic users and over 100 countries, having distributed over 100 million scenes of data. the communications and broadcasting satellite network has made direct services available to over 140 million households in china's rural and remote areas, provided returned data for over 500 mobile phone base stations, and ensured efficient emergency communications during the responses to the forest fire in liangshan, sichuan province, to the heavy rainstorm in zhengzhou, henan province and to other major disaster relief work. the beidou navigation satellite system has guaranteed the safety of over seven million operating vehicles, provided positioning and short message communication services to over 40,000 seagoing fishing vessels, and offered precise positioning services for the freighting of supplies and tracking of individual movement for covid 19 control, and for hospital construction. in the next five years, under the overarching goal of building a safe, healthy, beautiful and digital china, we will intensify the integration of satellite application with the development of industries and regions, and space information with new generation information technology such as big data and internet of things. we will also extend the integrated application of remote sensing satellite data on land, ocean and meteorology, advance the construction of infrastructure for integrated application of the beidou navigation satellite system, satellite communications, and the ground communications network, and improve our capacity to tailor and refine professional services. all these efforts will help to achieve the goals of peaking carbon dioxide emissions and carbon neutrality, to revitalize rural areas, and to realize new type urbanization, coordinated development between regions and eco environmental progress. 2. space application industry the commercial use of satellite technology is thriving, which expands the applications market for governments, enterprises and individuals. a group of competitive commercial space enterprises are emerging and realizing industrialized large scale operation. a variety of products and services such as high accuracy maps using remote sensing data, full dimensional images, data processing, and application software are improving the service to users in transport, e commerce, trading of agricultural products, assessment of disaster losses and insurance claims, and the registration of real estate. the ability to commercialize satellite communications and broadcasting services has further improved. four 4k ultra hd television channels in china were launched and tv viewers now have access to over 100 hd channels. internet access is also available on board ocean vessels and passenger aircraft. tiantong 1, a satellite mobile communication system, is in commercial operation. the satellite navigation industry has witnessed rapid growth as evidenced by sales of over 100 million chips compatible with the beidou system. its industrial applications have been widely introduced into mass consumption, the sharing economy, and daily life. achievements in space technology have helped traditional industries transform and upgrade, supported emerging industries such as new energy, new materials and environmental protection, enabled new business models such as smart cities, smart agriculture and unmanned driving to grow, making a great contribution to building china's strengths in science and technology, manufacturing, cyberspace and transport. in the next five years, china's space industry will seize the opportunities presented by the expanding digital industry and the digital transformation of traditional industries, to promote the application and transfer of space technology. through innovative business models and the deep integration of space application with digital economy, more efforts will be made to expand and extend the scope for applying satellite remote sensing and satellite communications technologies, and realizing the industrialized operation of the beidou navigation satellite system. this will provide more advanced, economical, high quality products and convenient services for all industries and sectors and for mass consumption. new business models for upscaling the space economy such as travel, biomedicine, debris removal and experiment services will be developed to expand the industry. iv. research on space science china's research on space science focuses on scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the universe, and the relationship between the solar system and humanity. it has launched programs to explore space and conduct experiments, advanced research on basic theories, and incubated major research findings. 1. research on space science (1) space astronomy the dark matter particle explorer (dampe) satellite obtained the precise measurements of the energy spectrums of cosmic ray electrons, protons and the gcr helium. the huiyan (insight) hard x ray modulation telescope was successfully launched; it has since discovered the strongest magnetic field in the universe and obtained a panoramic view of the black hole binary explosion process. the xihe observation satellite was successfully launched, which obtained multiple solar spectroscopic images at different wavelengths in the hα waveband. (2) lunar and planetary science led by its lunar exploration program, china has achieved significant advances in the comprehensive surveying of the moon's geology and subsurface structure, in dating the lunar magmatic activity, and in analyzing its mineralogical features and chemical elements. in planetary exploration, china has built a deeper understanding of the geological evolution of mars by conducting analysis of its surface structure and soil and the composition of its rocks. (3) space earth sciences zhangheng 1, also known as the china seismo electromagnetic satellite, helped to obtain data on and build models of the global geomagnetic field and the in situ data of ionosphere parameters. a high precision global carbon flux map, developed by using the data from the chinese global carbon dioxide monitoring scientific experimental satellite, is shared globally free of any charge. (4) space physics with the help of mozi, the world's first quantum communication satellite, china has carried out experiments on satellite based quantum teleportation and entanglement distribution over thousand kilometers, on gravitational induced decoherence of quantum entanglement, and on entanglement based secure quantum cryptography over thousand kilometers with no trusted relay. it has also launched the taiji 1 and tianqin 1 satellites to support the space gravitational wave detection program. in the next five years, china will continue with the research and development of programs such as the satellite for space gravitational wave detection, the einstein probe, the advanced space based solar observatory, the panoramic imaging satellite for solar wind and magnetosphere interaction, and the high precision magnetic field measurement satellite, focusing on the subjects of the extreme universe, ripples in time and space, the panoramic view of the sun and the earth, and the search for habitable planets. china will continue to explore frontier areas and research into space astronomy, heliospheric physics, lunar and planetary science, space earth sciences, and space physics, to generate more original scientific findings. 2. science experiments in space with the help of the shenzhou spacecraft series, the tiangong 2 space laboratory, and the shijian 10 satellite, china has achieved mammalian embryonic development in space and in orbit verification of the world's first space cold atom clock, expanded the understanding of the mechanisms behind particle segregation in microgravity, pulverized coal combustion, and material preparation, and achieved research findings in space science of international standing. in the coming five years, china will make use of space experiment platforms such as the tiangong space station, the chang'e lunar probe series, and the tianwen 1 mars probe to conduct experiments and research on biology, life, medicine, and materials, to expand humanity's understanding of basic science. v. modernizing space governance the chinese government has been proactive in developing the space industry, through policy measures and well thought out plans for space activities. better alignment between a well functioning market and an enabling government gives full play to the roles of both, endeavoring to create a favorable environment for the growth of a high quality space industry. 1. enhancing innovation in order to create a new configuration in which the upper, middle and lower industrial chains are coordinated, and large, small and medium sized enterprises advance in an integrated way, china is building a strategic force of space science and technology, encouraging original innovation by research institutes and bringing together enterprises, universities, research institutes and end users in creating and applying new technologies. a technological innovation alliance is emerging in key areas of space science. a number of major space and science projects are in place to promote the leapfrog development of space science and technology, which spearheads overall technical advances. china is making forward looking plans for strategic, fundamental and technological breakthroughs in space science   it is integrating the application of new generation information technology in the space sector, and accelerating the engineering application of advanced and especially revolutionary technologies. the secondary development of space technologies will be further reinforced to put research findings into industrial production and boost the economy. 2. strengthening basic industrial capabilities the space industry will continue to improve its integrated and open industrial system comprising system integrators, specialized contractors, market suppliers, and public service providers, and covering all links from research to production. to strengthen the industrial and supply chains of its space industry and transform and upgrade the basic capabilities of the industry, china will optimize the industrial structure and upgrade r&d, manufacturing, launch operations, and application services, further integrate industrialization with information technology, and build intelligent production lines, workshops and institutes. 3. expanding application china will improve the policies for its satellite application industry, including coordinating public interest and market demand, integrating facilities and resources, unifying data and product standards, and streamline the channel for sharing and utilization. it is committed to improving satellite application services with unified standards and customized choices. china will move faster to grow its satellite application market, where various market entities are encouraged to develop value added products. by creating new application models, china is fostering a "space plus" industrial ecosystem and promoting emerging strategic industries related to space. 4. encouraging commercialization china has formulated guidelines on commercializing its space industry. it will expand the scope of government procurement of space products and services, grant relevant enterprises access and sharing rights to major scientific research facilities and equipment, and support these enterprises in joining the r&d of major engineering projects. it will establish a negative list for market access to space activities, to ensure fair competition and the orderly entry and exit of participating enterprises. china will optimize the distribution of the space industry in the national industrial chain, and encourage and guide participating enterprises to engage in satellite application and the transfer and transformation of space technologies. 5. promoting law based governance to promote law based governance of the space industry, china will speed up the formulation of a national space law and establish a legal system with this law at the core. this will include studying and formulating regulations on satellite navigation, strengthening the management of satellite navigation activities, revising measures for the registration of space objects, and regulating the sharing and use of space data and the licensing of civil space launches. it will also include studying and formulating regulations on the management of satellite frequency and orbit resources, and strengthening the declaration, coordination and registration of these resources to safeguard the country's legitimate rights and interests in this regard. china has strengthened research on international space law, and actively participated in formulating international telecommunication union standards and international rules regarding outer space, maintaining the international order in outer space based on international space law, and contributing to a fair and reasonable global governance system for outer space. 6. strengthening team building china will step up its efforts to become a world center for talent and innovation in space science, and create favorable conditions for the development of professionals and the expansion of their ranks. it will improve the personnel training mechanism   fostering a pool of strategic scientists, leading and young scientists, and teams with strong innovation capacity, and cultivating a large number of outstanding engineers, top technicians championing fine craftsmanship, and visionary entrepreneurs with a sense of social responsibility. china will improve its personnel management mechanisms to regulate and guide the rational flow of professionals. it will also upgrade incentives with greater rewards and stronger support, and strengthen specialty disciplines in universities to cultivate a reserve force of aerospace personnel. 7. promoting space education and culture china will continue to hold events to celebrate its space day, promote education on space knowledge and culture during world space week and national science and technology week, and through tiangong classroom and other platforms, and promote the culture and spirit embodied in the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, missiles, man made satellites, manned spaceflight, lunar probes and the beidou navigation satellite system in the new era. the goal is to inspire the nation, especially the young people, to develop an interest in science, to create and explore the unknown, and to increase scientific knowledge among the general public. china will protect its major space heritage and build more space museums and experience parks to popularize space science and provide education. it will encourage the creation of space related literary and art works to promote space culture. vi. international cooperation peaceful exploration, development and utilization of outer space are rights equally enjoyed by all countries. china calls on all countries to work together to build a global community of shared future and carry out in depth exchanges and cooperation in outer space on the basis of equality, mutual benefit, peaceful utilization, and inclusive development. 1. basic policies china's basic policies on international exchanges and cooperation are as follows: · safeguarding the central role of the united nations in managing outer space affairs; abiding by the treaty on principles governing the activities of states in the exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies; upholding the guiding role of relevant un principles, declarations and resolutions; actively participating in the formulation of international rules regarding outer space; and promoting greater sustainability of space activities; · strengthening international exchanges and cooperation on space science, technology and application; working together with the international community to provide public products and services; and contributing to global efforts to address common challenges; · strengthening international space cooperation that is based on common goals and serves the belt and road initiative, and ensuring that the space industry benefits the initiative's participating countries, especially developing countries; · supporting the asia pacific space cooperation organization (apsco) to play an important role, and giving weight to cooperation under the brics and group 20 mechanisms and within the framework of the shanghai cooperation organization; · encouraging and endorsing the efforts of domestic research institutes, enterprises, institutions of higher learning, and social organizations to engage in international space exchanges and cooperation in diverse forms and at various levels in accordance with relevant policies, laws and regulations. 2. major achievements since 2016, china has signed 46 space cooperation agreements or memoranda of understanding with 19 countries and regions and four international organizations. it has actively promoted global governance of outer space, and carried out international cooperation in space science, technology and application through bilateral and multilateral mechanisms. these measures have yielded fruitful results. (1) global governance of outer space · china participates in consultations on issues such as the long term sustainability of outer space activities, the development and utilization of space resources, and the prevention of arms race in outer space. together with other parties, it has proposed discussions on space exploration and innovation, and advanced the space2030 agenda of the un. · china supports the work of the beijing office of the united nations platform for space based information for disaster management and emergency response, and has participated in the activities of the international committee on global navigation satellite systems in an in depth manner. it has joined international mechanisms such as the space missions planning advisory group and the international asteroid warning network. · china plays its role as the host country of apsco, and supports the organization's development vision 2030. · china has strengthened international exchanges on space debris, long term sustainability of outer space activities, and other issues through mechanisms such as the space debris work group of china russia space cooperation sub committee and the sino us expert workshop on space debris and space flight safety. · china supports the activities of international organizations such as the international telecommunication union, group on earth observations, inter agency space debris coordination committee, consultative committee for space data systems, international space exploration coordination group, and the interagency operations advisory group. (2) manned spaceflight · china has carried out gamma ray burst polarization monitoring research with the european space agency on the tiangong 2 space laboratory, conducted human body medical research in a micro gravitational environment with france during the shenzhou 11 manned spaceflight mission, carried out joint caves training and maritime rescue drills with the european astronaut centre. · china has completed the selection of the first batch of international space science experiments to be conducted on the chinese space station, and conducted technological cooperation and exchanges with germany, italy and russia on space science experiments and the development of space station sections. (3) beidou navigation satellite system · china has coordinated the development of china's beidou navigation satellite system and the united states' global positioning system, russia's glonass system, and europe's galileo system. it has carried out in depth cooperation with them in the fields of compatibility, interoperability, monitoring and assessment, and joint application. · china has pressed ahead with international standardization of the beidou system, which has been included in the standard systems of the international electrotechnical commission and many other international organizations in fields such as civil aviation, maritime affairs, international search and rescue, and mobile communications. · china has increased the beidou system's global service capacity by establishing beidou cooperation forum mechanisms with the league of arab states and the african union, completing the first overseas beidou center in tunisia, and conducting satellite navigation cooperation with countries such as pakistan, saudi arabia, argentina, south africa, algeria, and thailand. (4) deep space exploration · china launched the international lunar research station project together with russia, and initiated the sino russian joint data center for lunar and deep space exploration. it is working with russia to coordinate chang'e 7's lunar polar exploration mission with russia's luna resource 1 orbiter mission. · in the chang'e 4 lunar exploration mission china cooperated with russia and the european space agency on engineering technology, and with sweden, germany, the netherlands and saudi arabia on payloads. it has launched international onboard payload cooperation in the chang'e 6 lunar exploration mission. · in the tianwen 1 mission, china's first mars exploration project, china cooperated with the european space agency on engineering technology, and with austria and france on payloads. it has established a mars probe orbit data exchange mechanism with the united states, and launched international onboard payload cooperation in its asteroid exploration mission. · in the fields of lunar and deep space exploration, china cooperated on tt&c with the european space agency, argentina, namibia, and pakistan. (5) space technology · together with relevant partners china has developed and successfully launched the china france oceanography satellite, china brazil earth resources satellite 04a, and the ethiopian remote sensing satellite. it has launched the student small satellites (sss) for apsco. it is jointly developing the misrsat 2 remote sensing satellite. · china completed the in orbit delivery of the pakistan remote sensing satellite (prss 1), venezuelan remote sensing satellite (vrss 2), sudan remote sensing satellite (srss 1), and the algerian communications satellite (alcomsat 1). · china has provided satellite carrying or launching services for countries including saudi arabia, pakistan, argentina, brazil, canada, and luxembourg. · china has conducted space product and technology cooperation with countries including russia, ukraine, belarus, argentina, pakistan, and nigeria. · china has helped developing countries boost their space science and research. it has built satellite research and development infrastructure with countries including egypt, pakistan and nigeria. it has pressed ahead with the construction of the belt and road initiative space information corridor, and opened china's space facilities to developing countries. (6) space applications · china has established an emergency support mechanism for disaster prevention and mitigation for international users of the fengyun meteorological satellites, and data from china's meteorological satellites have been widely used in 121 countries and regions. · china has signed cooperation agreements for the brics remote sensing satellite constellation, cooperated with the european space agency on earth observation satellite data exchange, and built the china asean satellite information offshore service platform and the remote sensing satellite data sharing service platform. it has worked with laos, thailand, cambodia, and myanmar to build the lancang mekong space information exchange center. · china has built satellite data receiving stations with countries including bolivia, indonesia, namibia, thailand and south africa. · china actively participates in the mechanism of the international charter on space and major disasters, providing satellite remote sensing data totaling 800 scenes and adding eight new on duty satellites (constellations) to the satellite system, thereby improving the international community's capacity for disaster prevention and mitigation. · china actively provides satellite emergency monitoring services. it has initiated emergency monitoring in response to 17 major disasters in 15 countries. for instance, in response to the severe drought in afghanistan and the dam collapse in laos in 2018, and to the cyclone that struck mozambique in 2019, it provided monitoring services for the authorities of affected countries. · china released its geo strategic plan 2016 2025: implementing geoss. it served as the rotating chair of the group on earth observations in 2020 and promoted the construction of a global earth observation system. · china participates in the international space climate observatory platform, promoting china's best practices in space technology to address climate change, and facilitating international cooperation on space climate observation. (7) space science · using science satellites including wukong, mozi, shijian 10, and insight, china has conducted joint scientific research and experiments with countries including switzerland, italy, austria, the united kingdom, and japan. · china co developed and successfully launched the china italy electromagnetic monitoring experiment satellite. it has continued the joint development of the sino european panoramic imaging satellite for solar wind and magnetosphere interaction, sino french astronomic satellite, and china italy electromagnetic monitoring experiment satellite 02. it has joined countries including italy and germany in developing and calibrating the payloads of satellites such as the advanced space based solar observatory, einstein probe, and enhanced x ray timing and polarimetry observatory. · using the china brazil joint laboratory for space weather, it co built the space environment monitoring and research platform for south america. (8) personnel and academic exchanges · china has taken part in the activities organized by the international astronautical federation, international committee on space research, international academy of astronautics, and international institute of space law. it has hosted the 2017 global space exploration conference, the 13th meeting of the international committee on global navigation satellite systems, the united nations/china forum on space solutions: realizing the sustainable development goals, the wenchang international aviation and aerospace forum, the zhuhai forum, the international summit on bds applications, and the fengyun satellite user conference. · china has helped developing countries train professionals. through the regional centre for space science and technology education in asia and the pacific (china) (affiliated to the united nations), it has trained almost 1,000 space industry professionals for more than 60 countries, and established the "belt and road" aerospace innovation alliance and the association of sino russian technical universities. it has also promoted personnel exchanges in remote sensing and navigation technology through the international training program and other channels. · china has promoted scientific and technological exchanges in the fields of space science, remote sensing and navigation through the china europe space science bilateral meeting, the china eu esa dialogue on space technology cooperation, and the dragon programme   a joint undertaking between esa and the ministry of science and technology of china. 3. key areas for future cooperation in the next five years china will be more open and active in broadening bilateral and multilateral cooperation mechanisms, and will engage in extensive international exchanges and cooperation in the following key areas: (1) global governance of outer space · under the framework of the united nations, china will actively participate in formulating international rules regarding outer space, and will work together with other countries to address the challenges in ensuring long term sustainability of outer space activities. · china will actively participate in discussions on international issues and the development of relevant mechanisms, such as those in the fields of space environment governance, near earth objects monitoring and response, planet protection, space traffic management, and the development and utilization of space resources. · china will cooperate in space environment governance, improve the efficiency of space crisis management and comprehensive governance, conduct dialogue with russia, the united states and other countries as well as relevant international organizations on outer space governance, and actively support the construction of apsco's space science observatory. (2) manned spaceflight · china will employ its space station to conduct space based astronomical observations, earth science and research, and space science experiments under conditions of microgravity. · china will promote more extensive international cooperation in astronaut selection and training, joint flights and other fields. (3) beidou navigation satellite system · china will continue to participate in the activities of the un's international committee on global navigation satellite systems and promote the establishment of a fair and reasonable satellite navigation order. · china will actively improve compatibility and interoperability of global satellite navigation systems such as the beidou navigation satellite system and other such systems as well as satellite based augmentation systems. · china will prioritize cooperation and exchanges, and share with others mature solutions, on the application of the beidou navigation satellite system, thereby boosting the socio economic development of partner countries. (4) deep space exploration · china will advance cooperation on the international lunar research station project. it welcomes international partners to participate in the research and construction of the station at any stage and level of the mission. · it will expand cooperation in the fields of asteroid and interplanetary exploration. (5) space technology · china will support cooperation on satellite engineering and technology. it will complete the joint research and development of misrsat 2, and launch the svom (space based multiband astronomical variable objects monitor), and the china italy electromagnetic monitoring experiment satellite 02. it will press ahead with follow up cooperation in the china brazil earth resources satellites program. · china will engage in cooperation on space tt&c support. it will continue to cooperate with the european space agency in the field of tt&c support, and further advance the building of ground station networks. · china will support international cooperation on commercial spaceflight, including: (a) launching services; (b) technical cooperation on whole satellites, on sub systems, spare parts, and electronic components of satellites and launch vehicles, on ground facilities and equipment, and on other related items. it will give priority to developing communications satellites for pakistan and to cooperating on the construction of the pakistan space center and egypt's space city. (6) space applications · china will promote global application of data from chinese meteorological satellites, support the provision of data from the china france oceanography satellite to the world meteorological organization, and promote global sharing and scientific application of the data obtained by zhangheng 1, china's seismo electromagnetic satellite. · china will press ahead with the construction of the belt and road initiative space information corridor, and strengthen cooperation on the application of remote sensing, navigation, and communications satellites. · china will press ahead with the construction of the data sharing service platform of apsco. · china will advance the construction and application of the brics remote sensing satellite constellation. · china will participate in the construction and use of the space climate observatory. (7) space science · by means of the deep space exploration project, and using extraterrestrial samples and exploration data, china will conduct joint research in fields such as the space environment and planetary origin and evolution. through the united nations scientific data obtained by the chang'e 4 satellite will be made available to the international community. · china will boost joint r&d on space science satellites and research subjects such as dark matter particles, solar burst activities and their influence, and spatial gravitational wave. (8) personnel and academic exchanges · china will conduct personnel exchanges and training in the space industry. · china will hold high level international academic exchange conferences and forums. conclusion in today's world, a growing number of countries are seeing the importance of space and are investing more on their space programs. space industry around the world has entered a new stage of rapid development and profound transformation that will have a major and far reaching impact on human society. at this new historical start towards a modern socialist country, china will accelerate work on its space industry. guided by the concept of a global community of shared future, it will work actively with other countries to carry out international space exchanges and cooperation, safeguard outer space security, and strive for long term sustainability in activities related to outer space. by doing so, china will contribute more to protecting the earth, improving people's wellbeing, and serving human progress.

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the february issue of ieee spectrum is here! the country gears up for lunar landings, in situ resources tests, and new huge rockets china’s long march 5 y5 rocket is pictured here at the wenchang spacecraft launch site in south china’s hainan province. this past weekend, nasa scrubbed the artemis i uncrewed mission to the moon and back. reportedly, the space agency will try again to launch the inaugural moon mission featuring the gargantuan space launch system (sls) at the end of this month or sometime in october. meanwhile, half a world away, china is progressing on its own step by step program to put both robotic and, eventually, crewed spacecraft on the lunar surface and keep pace with nasa led achievements. asia’s rapidly growing space power has already made a number of impressive lunar leaps but will need to build on these in the coming years. ambitious sample return missions, landings at the lunar south pole, testing the ability to 3d print using materials from regolith, and finally sending astronauts on a short term visit to our celestial neighbor are in the cards before the end of the decade. the next step, expected around 2024, is chang’e 6: an unprecedented attempt to collect rock samples from the far side of the moon. the mission will build on two recent major space achievements. in 2019, china became the first country to safely land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon, a hemisphere which cannot be seen from earth as the moon is tidally locked. the mission was made possible by a relay satellite out beyond the moon at earth moon lagrange point 2, where it can bounce signals between chang’e 4 and ground stations in china. chang’e 5 in 2020 performed the first sampling of lunar material in over four decades. the complex, four spacecraft mission used an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle, and return capsule to successfully deliver 1.731 grams of lunar rocks to earth. the automated rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit of the orbiter and ascent spacecraft was also seen as a test of the technology for getting astronauts off the moon and back to earth. chang’e 6 will again attempt to collect new samples, this time from the south pole aitken basin, a massive and ancient impact crater on the far side of the moon. the science return of such a mission could likewise be huge as its rocks have the potential to answer some significant questions about the moon’s geological past, says planetary scientist katherine joy of the university of manchester, in england. “we think that the basin formation event was so large that the moon’s mantle could have been excavated from tens of kilometers deep,” says joy. fragments of this mantle material originating from deep in the moon would help us to understand how the moon differentiated early in its history, the nature of its interior, and how volcanism on the far side of the moon is different or similar to that on the nearside. chang’e 7, also scheduled for 2024, will look at a different set of questions geared toward lunar resources. it will target the lunar south pole, a region where nasa’s artemis 3 crewed mission is also looking to land.