China is firmly advancing towards its goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by 2030 and has presented a tight development and testing schedule for its ambitious crewed lunar program.
China's Mars orbiter observed the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS.
Crucial tests underway
Among the crucial tests to be carried out soon are integrated checks for the Lanyue lunar lander module, thermal tests and maximum dynamic pressure escape tests for the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft, and low-altitude flights and technology verification tests for the Long March-10 carrier rocket, China's Manned Space Agency explained on Thursday.
Zhang Jingbo, a spokesperson for the agency, announced at a press conference that the Mengzhou-1 spacecraft mission will be included in the public logo campaign, along with missions to the Chinese space station.
Preliminary prototypes of essential hardware for the flight have been completed, which include the Long March-10 rocket, the Mengzhou spacecraft itself, the Lanyue lander module, the Wangyu extravehicular lunar suit, and the Tansuo crewed rover.
Additionally, according to the spokesperson, the payload designs for scientific research and their applications have been finalized, while the ground infrastructure, such as the launch site, the tracking network, and the Earth landing site, is in accelerated development.
Satisfactory tests and a tight schedule
The mission has conducted a series of satisfactory tests this year, including the second-stage propulsion system and captive ignition test of the Long March-10 rocket, the zero-altitude escape test of the Mengzhou spacecraft, and the comprehensive landing and takeoff verification test of the Lanyue module.
The spokesperson noted that numerous new technologies still require validation and the workload is considerable, given the high quality standards and the tight flight testing schedule.
The project team is committed to overcoming these obstacles and laying a solid foundation to achieve the country's lunar exploration goal on schedule.
The spacecraft is mainly designed for lunar missions, although it will also support those conducted at the space station in low Earth orbit.
Progress in prototypes and infrastructure
All development and construction work for the crewed mission to Earth's natural satellite is proceeding as planned, stated Zhang.
