The Chinese Moon Base (Overview and Plan Summary)

Project 921-2

Chinese Space Statio
Chinese space station - model at the Chinese Pavilion, Hannover Expo 2000.The model indicates a modest station consisting of 2.2 m diameter modules, stretched versions of the orbital module of the Shenzhou.
Credit: © Mark Wade

Class: Manned. Type: Space Station. Nation: China.

The first model of the planned Chinese 921-2 modular space station was shown at Expo 2000 at Hannover. This was made up of units that appeared to be stretched versions of the orbital module of the Shenzhou spacecraft. However by 2002 it had been decided to build a 20 tonne 'Space Laboratory' to be launched by the new CZ-5 launch vehicle after 2010. Therefore the clustered Shenzhou-based laboratory seems to have been abandoned. The most likely scenario appeared to be a few launches by CZ-2E or CZ-2F of single-module man-tended stations during the 2005-2010 period.

In April 1992 the Chinese leadership decided that an independent manned space program could be afforded. The State Council directed that a manned spacecraft be launched before the new millennium in order to establish China?s place as one of the Great Powers. The Chinese National Manned Space Program was given the designation Project 921. The first portion, 921-1, was to be a manned space capsule with first flight by October 1999. The second stage, 921-2, was to be a manned space station. The third stage, 921-3, was a modern space-earth transportation system, using a delta winged orbiter, to be operational by 2020.

To launch the 921-1 and 921-2 spacecraft a new rocket using liquid oxygen and kerosene was proposed. This would eliminate the toxic propellants used in the existing CZ-2 family of rockets. Clustering of identical first stages would allow heavier payloads, such as the orbital laboratory, to be placed into orbit. The original 921-2 space station module had a total mass of 20 tonnes, a length of 15 m, and a diameter of 4.2 m. It was equipped with a Mir-like five-port docking section at the forward end. This would allow many such units to be assembled into a large space station complex. Span across the solar panels was 22 m.

The original Project 921 proposal was issued by the Shanghai Astronautics Bureau in October 1993 for inclusion in the Eight and Ninth Five Year Economic Plans. But the Chinese leadership did not approve that part of the program for development of the new liquid oxygen and kerosene rockets. Resources were put instead into the development of large solid motors for military use. Therefore space station plans were changed. Now a modular space station would have to be constructed using 8 to 12 tonne modules launched by CZ-2E or CZ-2E(A) boosters.

Authorisation to proceed with this modular 921-2 space station finally came in February 1999, with the first design review in May. A vacuum chamber with a diameter of 7 meters and a height of 12 meters had already been built to test the station.

The first model of the planned Chinese 921-2 space station were shown at Expo 2000 at Hannover. This was made up of modules that appeared to be stretched versions of the orbital module of the Shenzhou spacecraft. The model showed a station consisting of:

A node module, about 3 m long and perhaps as little as 2.2 m in diameter, equipped with six docking ports. Attached to two of them were large rotating solar panels (following the same principle as those on the Shenzhou).
At either end of the node, two long (8 to 10 m x 2.2 to 3.0 m) modules, each equipped with ten docking ports. Attached to these were what appeared to be an airlock or resupply module, a propulsion module, and a two-beam truss with parabolic antennae.

Overall length of the relatively modest station would be about 20 m, with a total mass of under 40 tonnes. However the large number of unused docking ports indicated substantial room for expansion.

In February 2001 it was decided to proceed with the new 'CZ-5' series of rockets. These were to begin flying in 2008, and would make possible the reinstatement of plans for a larger 20 tonne station module of up to 5 m diameter.

In June 2001 it was revealed that China would implement its space station project in three phases. Wang Yongzhi, the chief manned spaceflight engineer and designer, told a conference held in Beijing that the first phase would be consist of the Shenzhou - launch of single manned spacecraft over a series of unmanned and manned flights, demonstrating flight of Chinese astronauts in near-Earth orbit and their safe return to earth. In orbit the astronauts would conduct earth observations and space experiments. In the second phase spacewalks, rendezvous and docking tests would be conducted. A space laboratory would be orbited, but only man-tended on a short-term basis and left in an automated mode between visits. This was evidently a scaled-back version of the 921-2 station shown in model form at the Hannover exhibition. The third phase would involve the launch of a larger space laboratory. This would be permanently manned and be China's first true space station.

In March 2002 it was confirmed that the permanent space station would have a launch mass of 20 tonnes, and be launched by the new CZ-5 rocket series. The Shenzhou-based modules would evidently only be a way-station on the Chinese road to a permanent presence in space.

Total Length: 8.00 m. Maximum Diameter: 2.25 m. Total Mass: 8,000 kg.

Project 921-2 Chronology

01 April 1992 Chinese manned space programme authorised

The Chinese leadership decided that an independent manned space program could be afforded. The Chinese National Manned Space Program was given the designation Project 921. The 921-1 manned capsule entered full scale development in 1993 and the 921-2 space station in 1999. Only preliminary work was authorised on the 921-3 reusable spaceplane.

01 January 1993 Development of Shenzhou manned spacecraft begins

The 921-1 manned capsule entered full scale development in 1993 and the 921-2 space station in 1999.

11 July 1999 Project 921-2 Go-Ahead

China initiated the second phase of the National Manned Space program - Project 921-2. Phase 2 would focus on a manned 'space lab' and related key technologies. A China Academy of Science research team, including six subgroups on specific topics, was established in February 1999 to issue a requirements document. The new Shanghai Institute for Biological Sciences was also involved.

Bibliography:

Chen Lan, Dragon in Space, Web Address when accessed: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/.
Grondine, Ed, Encyclopedia Astronautica, "Chinese Manned Space Program: Behind Closed Doors", Web Address when accessed: http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~mwade/articles/chidoors.htm.
Mansfield, Simon, editor, Space Daily, Web Address when accessed: http://www.spacedaily.com/.

Last update 9 August 2003.

© Mark Wade, 2003 .

Project 921-3

Chinese Shuttle
Chinese shuttle craft - model at the Chinese Pavilion, Hannover Expo 2000.The model indicates a spaceplane similar to the cancelled European Hermes.
Credit: © Mark Wade

Class: Manned. Type: Spaceplane. Nation: China.

The first model of the planned 921-3 manned shuttle was exhibited at Hannover Expo 2000. This showed a double-delta winged spaceplane with a single vertical stabiliser, equipped with three high-expansion engines. Based on the size of the presumed two crew side-by-side cockpit, dimensions could be very roughly estimated as a wingspan of 8 m and a length of 12 m, and a total mass of 12 tonnes. This seemed about half the size but the same configuration as the six-engined orbiter designed in the mid-1990's.

The Chinese 921-3 shuttle concept was a two-stage system with horizontal takeoff and landing. The appearance and layout of the system was similar to the West German Saenger-II. Launch mass would be 330 tonnes. An aerospace plane with accommodation for two to three crew and a payload of 6 tonnes would be mounted atop the first stage. It was felt by the Chinese that the horizontal launch method would result in lower system weight and provide a more flexible system that could be operated from any airfield.

The hypersonic lifting body first stage would be 85 m long and 12 m in diameter with three vertical stabilisers. The stage would have a launch mass of 198 tonnes and a landing mass of 79 tonnes. At launch the stage would be powered by six Lox/LH2/Methane engines with a thrust of 40 tonnes each and a specific impulse of 370 seconds. These would be supplemented by eight LH2-powered direct-flow ramjet engines with a specific impulse of 3500 seconds. The rocket engines alone would power the vehicle from the runway to a speed of Mach 0.8, at which point the ramjets would ignite. Up to an altitude of 9 km and a speed of Mach 1.8 to 2.0 the rocket and ramjet engines would operate in parallel to provide a constant acceleration, the rocket engines throttling back as the ramjets increased in thrust. Thereafter the first stage would be powered by ramjet thrust alone until it released the orbiter at an unspecified hypersonic speed. It would then return to its launch base.

The orbiter would have a launch mass of 132 tonnes, a landing mass of 25.3 tonnes, and would be equipped with four Lox/LH2 engines with a specific impulse of 460 seconds and thrust of 21 tonnes each. These would take the stage to an elliptical orbit of 100 to 300 km altitude. Further engine manoeuvres could take the spacecraft up to a 500 km altitude orbit.

China published photographs of a two-seat spaceplane simulator as early as 1980. This was possibly a test cockpit in an aircraft that flew parabolic trajectories to provide brief periods of zero-G. Given Tsien Hsue-shen?s, lifelong interest in winged hypersonics, it seems likely that this two seater was indeed the cockpit for a Chinese Dynasoar-type spaceplane. Reports of the existence of a wind tunnel model have continued through the years. However lack of funds prevented full scale development from beginning.

In April 1992 the Chinese leadership decided that an independent manned space program could now be afforded. The Chinese National Manned Space Program was given the designation Project 921. The third stage, 921-3, was a modern space-earth transportation system, using a delta winged orbiter, to be operational by 2020. The 921-1 manned capsule entered full scale development in 1993 and the 921-2 space station in 1999. Only preliminary work has been undertaken to date on the 921-3.

Some photographs have been released of a wind tunnel model. The narrow fuselage and wing tip vertical stabilisers were strongly reminiscent of the United States? X-20 Dynasoar spaceplane of the 1960?s. Another picture shows computer simulations of airflow around a different double-delta winged spacecraft. This has an appearance very close to the US space shuttle, but without a tail. This more closely resembled the Hannover model, except the latter was equipped with a modest vertical stabiliser similar to that on the Russian BOR-4 spaceplane.

This very ambitious project will probably be realised in a different form than that originally planned some time in the first half of the next century. The Hannover model suggests that a modest spaceplane, launched by expendable boosters, would be flown before proceeding to any full-scale reusable winged launch vehicles. By 2002 Chinese space scientists were speaking of a two-stage to orbit, ballistic recoverable transport as the first recoverable Chinese space vehicle.

Craft.Crew Size: 2. Total Length: 12.00 m. Maximum Diameter: 2.00 m. Total Mass: 12,000 kg.

Project 921-3 Chronology

01 April 1992 Chinese manned space programme authorised

15 December 1999 China Has No Shuttle Program

There is no a shuttle program in China, stated Liu Jiyuan, former president of China Aerospace Corporation, adding that the formal shuttle project had not started. He also said that the first Shenzhou manned flight would depends on the results of unmanned tests, and that no animal flights were planned.

Bibliography:

Chen Lan, Dragon in Space, Web Address when accessed: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Launchpad/1921/.
Grondine, Ed, Encyclopedia Astronautica, "Chinese Manned Space Program: Behind Closed Doors", Web Address when accessed: http://solar.rtd.utk.edu/~mwade/articles/chidoors.htm.
Gubanov, B I, Triumf i tragediya energiy, Editions NIER, Nizhniy Novgorod, 1998..

Russia and the United States have held the inside tracks in the space race. In the stretch, here comes China.

by Joe McDonald

The heart of China's ambition for a high-tech future lies on the north side of Beijing's Haidian district, near the leafy campuses of Peking and Tsinghua Universities. Clustered around those elite schools and a flock of smaller colleges are dozens of startup companies working in the hot fields of information technology and genetics. The communist government has optimistically dubbed the crowded district China's Silicon Valley.
To the south, hidden behind high walls and armed guards, are government research centers and the laboratories of the People's Liberation Army. And if foreign experts are right, somewhere in this military-run section of Haidian, a group of fighter pilots is training to fulfill China's most audacious goal--launching an astronaut into space.
The Chinese astronauts-in-training, their identities still secret, are mystery figures at the center of the country's decade-long push to become the third nation to send its own people into orbit. The state press says astronauts should carry China's gold-starred red flag into space by 2005, and some Western analysts think it could happen as early as next year. But even though early tests of a three-person spacecraft have been successful, the government has told its citizens and the world little about its pursuit of this expensive, cold-war-style propaganda prize. The secretive Chinese military dominates the program, and, fearing the political embarrassment that could come with setbacks, the government stays mum.
"We don't really know much," says He Shuzhang, retired director of the Aerospace Museum at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in Haidian, one of the country's top rocketry schools. The astronaut training center is thought to be near the museum where He--pronounced "Huh"--still helps out. When asked if he knows exactly where, he shakes his head. But despite the shortage of information, "ordinary Chinese care a lot about this and have high hopes," he said. "They feel great pride."
China has long held ambitions for a place in space. The country sent up its first satellite in 1970, which broadcast a tinny version of the communist Chinese anthem, "The East Is Red." Even before then, when Americans and Soviets were racing each other to the moon in the mid-1960s, the Chinese began working on plans to enter the derby with a one-man capsule named Shuguang, or Dawn. The project got as far as selecting 19 astronaut candidates in 1971, with an eye toward a first flight two years later. But coming as it did during the political upheaval of the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, when key engineers and scientists were being denounced and ousted from their positions, the effort was likely doomed from the start. That first cadre of astronauts was disbanded within a year, and the project was finally scrapped in 1980.
Chinese interest in human spaceflight simmered for another decade or so, but only simmered. Former U.S. astronaut Gordon Fullerton recalls a goodwill visit to China following his shuttle flight, STS-3, in 1982. His hosts were polite, but very guarded about whatever plans--past or future--they had to build up an astronaut corps.
"That was super-secret," he recalls. "They weren't saying anything." Fullerton and fellow STS-3 astronaut Jack Lousma were treated to lab visits, where they saw, among other things, a centrifuge (the Chinese were disappointed to learn that U.S. shuttle astronauts no longer used them for training). But "there wasn't anything close to a computer," says Fullerton. And beyond a trip to a rocket factory and a space medicine institute, the American visitors saw little evidence that the Chinese were planning to get into the spaceflight business.
When political stability returned to China in the 1990s, along with economic growth, the old dream was resurrected. The current bid to send astronauts into orbit is called Project 921: "92" for the year it began and "1" designating it as the first major, long-term national project begun that year.
Much has changed since the aborted Shuguang program of the 1970s. China now does a thriving business firing satellites into orbit for foreign customers aboard its Long March rockets. Western analysts say the country's rocketry skills are among its strongest military technologies. Though the average citizen makes less than $700 a year and the country faces crushing demands for money to overhaul state industry and fund social programs, the government appears ready to spend what it takes not just to achieve manned spaceflight but to sustain it.
"This is a matter of national pride," observes Joseph Cheng, director of the Contemporary China Research Center at the City University of Hong Kong. "We were the most civilized country centuries ago, and we must recapture this glory." Space travel is a powerful international status symbol, says Cheng, a way of demonstrating that China offers an alternative to American leadership. "China is a major power, and has to be respected as a major power." He chuckles as he quotes a maxim from communist party founder Mao Zedong: "Even if we don't have trousers, we still want the atom bomb."
Former museum director He, a quiet, slender, 72-year-old man with a thick shock of salt-and-pepper hair, recalls the patriotic stirrings he felt in July 1969 on hearing that an American had set foot on the moon. China, the country that invented rocketry, was then in the grip of the Cultural Revolution, terrorized by violent, radical gangs that were incited by Mao. The economy was collapsing. Scientists were harassed for past contacts with foreign researchers. Still, says He, "I thought right then, if the Soviets had sent someone into space, and the Americans did it, then we certainly would do it."
With that goal now clearly in sight, a sketchy picture of Beijing's astronauts-- called yuhangyuans, which means, roughly, "one who goes into space"--is slowly emerging from the shadows of official secrecy. The government won't allow any of the flashy publicity that turned NASA's Mercury astronauts into celebrities even before they flew. The China State Manned Aerospace Office in Beijing declined even to accept a written request for information for this article. But the authorities have stopped short of a total, Soviet-style information blackout. In a sign of growing official confidence, the state-controlled press has been divulging more details about the project since the third successful test of Shenzhou (pronounced "shun jo"), the astronauts' bowl-shaped reentry capsule.
In that test, conducted last March, Shenzhou orbited Earth 108 times, then touched down in the grasslands of inner Mongolia. Afterward, state television showed jubilant mission control technicians in red jumpsuits leaping in the air and cheering as military officials nodded approvingly. The government proclaimed the seven-day test flight a success and said the reentry capsule, which had carried sensor equipped, spacesuited mannequins into orbit, was "technically suitable for astronauts." Another section of the spacecraft remained aloft; ground controllers have been using it to practice remote controlled orbital maneuvering.
The yuhangyuans, picked from among some 2,000 military pilots in the People's Liberation Army, are all around 30 years old, according to stories in the state-controlled press, which are useful, if unverifiable, sources of technical information. The official Xinhua News Agency has given the number of astronauts as 12, while other reports put the number at 14, perhaps counting trainer astronauts as well. In 1996, China paid Russia to put two pilots through its Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City on the outskirts of Moscow. It is unclear whether the two men--identified in Western reports as Li Qinglong and Wu Zi--were preparing for a Shenzhou flight themselves, or whether their role has been limited to training other Chinese astronauts back home. Either way, China is unlikely to continue relying on Russian help in this area. Most Western analysts agree with Phillip Clark, an independent aerospace consultant based in England, that Beijing is intent on building up its own space school. Clark's specialty is Russia, but he has followed the China space program since the 1970s, in part for the challenge--"It's too easy to get information on other countries," he says.
Judging by the press accounts, Chinese trainers followed Russian tradition in selecting diminutive fliers to fit inside a cramped capsule. The first candidates average five-foot-seven and 110 pounds, small by the standards of today's well-nourished Chinese youth. The state press says the government will announce their names after the fourth test flight, suggesting that Shenzhou 5 might be the first to carry a crew. By contrast, when Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space in 1961, Moscow didn't reveal his identity until he was safely in orbit. And when program officials selected Gagarin for the flight, they withheld that information from him until a few days before launch. The Chinese will follow that practice, according to one Chinese report.
In an article last April, the weekly newspaper China Space News revealed new details about the yuhangyuans' training. Members of the corps live Monday to Friday in a heavily guarded building at an "aerospace city" in Beijing. "Any outsiders who try to peek in or take pictures are politely asked to leave," the report said. State newspapers have begun calling the building the Red Chamber. On weekends, according to China Space News, the astronauts return to their families, who live in ordinary apartments in the city. Many of the pilots' wives work in the same facility, said the newspaper, and "as wives of astronauts, have a strong sense of secrecy."
Additional glimpses of the program have come from other state media. An account last year in the Guangzhou Daily mentioned a four-story windowless building on Beijing's west side that held a mockup of the Shenzhou reentry capsule. The story described white-robed technicians watching as a trainee in an orange spacesuit climbed into the capsule simulator.
The astronauts practice emergency launch pad escapes at the launch site in the Gobi Desert, according to the state newspaper Labor News. The base is near the remote northwest town of Jiuquan, a former oasis stop for camel trains on the ancient Silk Road. (China has two other launch sites, which so far have been used only for launching satellites--at Taiyuan in the central province of Shanxi and at Xichang in the southwest province of Sichuan.)
The program has a distinctly Chinese identity. The astronauts will conduct inflight experiments in traditional herbal medicine, according to capsule designer Su Shuangning, who gave a rare interview last April to the People's Liberation Army Daily. The space cuisine will likewise have a native flavor. A research lab in Shanghai has developed a 21-meal menu, according to China Space News, whose reporter saw dozens of space-bound dishes at the Beijing training center--light on fish, meat, and bread and heavy on curried rice, shellfish, vegetables, and other dishes prepared by adding hot water. The diet will also include dried fruit. And "since Chinese love to drink tea, besides orange juice, there is iced tea and green tea," the newspaper said.
Because the identities of the astronauts and engineers are largely unknown, the most visible figure in China's nascent space program has been President Jiang Zemin. The 76-year-old leader, who also heads the Chinese communist party, is expected to start giving up his formal posts over the next two years, and is using the space program to polish his image as a leader who modernized China. The former engineer and Shanghai mayor, a surprise pick in 1989 to head the communist party after that year's political upheaval, prides himself on having helped to spread the Internet and other modern technology to the masses. He was on hand at Jiuquan on March 25 for the third Shenzhou launch. State television devoted half of its 30-minute nationwide evening news that day to the event--focusing not on the flight itself but on Jiang. Dressed in a green military-style uniform, he was shown congratulating control room technicians and speaking against a backdrop of fireworks bursting over the Tiananmen Gate in central Beijing.
Under Jiang, the government has largely cast off leftist ideology in promoting economic reform. Instead, it appeals to Chinese cultural pride by advancing projects such as Beijing's campaign to host the 2008 Olympics. When that bid proved successful, millions of people poured into the streets of the capital in spontaneous nighttime celebration, waving flags, singing the national anthem, and cheering themselves hoarse. The space program fits this nationalistic role perfectly. In contrast to revolution-era names----Long March rockets, East Is Red satellites----the more poetic Shenzhou----"Sacred Vessel"----harkens back to the glory days of classical China.
One day last July, I set out looking for the public face of China's new space program. But I ended up disappointed, caught between Beijing's desire to brag about its achievements and the military-inspired secrecy that the communist system regards as a necessary part of its armor. At the Aerospace Museum, former director He and the current director, Han Guoju, were gracious and welcoming. Their exhibits, housed in two concrete-floor halls the size of small aircraft hangars, include a Chinese fighter jet and models of airplanes made by the country's civilian industry. Ultralight aircraft hang from the high ceiling. In one corner is a head high scale model of a Shenzhou capsule and photos of Long March rockets blasting off. But that's all. "Our museum is very simple," said Han, who recommended that I visit the bigger China Aerospace Museum, on the southwest outskirts of Beijing.
I got directions from a receptionist over the phone, but when I arrived, I found that the museum is inside the walled compound of the state-run Launch Vehicle Research Institute. A polite young guard with an AK-47 rifle told me the public isn't allowed through the front gate. I called back the woman in the museum office, who belatedly explained why I'd never heard of the museum--it was baomi--secret. Entry by a foreigner requires permission from the office of the institute director. I waited an hour but was finally told that I'd been refused.
As I left, I saw the clash between China's high-tech hopes and low-tech reality: On the street outside of the building, farmers drove horse-drawn wagons filled with vegetables to street markets.
The cost for this huge but still-developing nation to create a space program from scratch--the state press says it now involves some 3,000 government agencies and companies--is a mystery. Foreign estimates range into the billions of dollars. But one Western diplomat in Beijing who follows the program says the total could be less than $1 billion, or half of what NASA paid to build a single space shuttle orbiter. "Wages for engineers and other experts are very low," says the diplomat, who spoke on condition that he not be identified. "And materials and techniques that the Soviets and Americans had to spend a lot of money to develop in the 1950s and '60s are common knowledge."
Chinese media also emphasize the project's frugality. A report on the Web site of the communist newspaper People's Daily said designers of the rocket assembly building at Jiuquan--whose 240-foot-high front doors weigh 350 tons--saved some 40 million yuan (about $5 million) by constructing it of concrete rather than the costlier steel used by Russia and the United States. Still, a few hundred million dollars spent on one building is equivalent to a full year's budget for a Chinese province--money used for roads, schools, and health care in a country where hundreds of millions of people live in poverty.
Beijing cut some corners by buying Russian know-how, and is believed to have purchased a Soyuz capsule, docking system, and spacesuit to study. Clark, the British expert, says China might also buy, as another study aid, a life support system designed for Russia's former Mir space station. The United States, on the other hand, has provided no technical help. Washington accuses Chinese companies of exporting rocket technology to Iran and Pakistan and worries that Beijing's own rapidly improving missile arsenal could threaten Taiwan. So, until the U.S. Department of State says different, NASA will likely keep a cool distance. Lynn Cline, NASA's deputy associate administrator for external relations and an experienced diplomat, says that Chinese officials occasionally ask her at international meetings what it would take to join the International Space Station project. But they've made no formal request, and cooperation remains limited. NASA is scheduled to carry a Chinese student experiment into orbit on the space shuttle this fall, and the two countries have discussed joint projects in Earth science and other non-controversial fields.
Even so, Chinese researchers have had access to U.S. expertise through technical conferences--more access, in fact, "than makes a lot of people in the West comfortable," according to Charles Vick, chief of the Space Policy Division of the Federation of American Scientists. There has been more of a clamp-down since September 11, he says. "Government buildings such as NASA are now off-limits," and U.S. conferences are imposing restrictions. "They're being turned away and told, flatly, 'No.' "
Chinese space officials are proud of their mostly homegrown program. "Our late start doesn't necessarily mean we are developing slowly," said capsule designer Su in his April newspaper interview. "We can learn from the experience of others and take shortcuts." In fact, China's first space hardware will be far more sophisticated than the capsules launched by the Soviets and Americans in the early 1960s. The 8.4- ton Shenzhou is slightly bigger than the Russian Soyuz vehicle on which it was modeled. Photos of Shenzhou 3 on the launch pad show improvements added by Chinese designers, including steering rockets, presumably to be used for docking with a space station that China also plans to launch sometime in the next decade.
News reports have said that the first piloted Shenzhou flight will carry two or three astronauts, whereas the Americans and Soviets started out with tiny, one-seat capsules. Still, China is proceeding cautiously, lacking a rival to race against and constrained by tight budgets and safety worries. The government has never disclosed a schedule for launches. "These designers are going to be very conservative about their approach because you're dealing with human life here, and the prestige of a nation," says Vick. Clark says that an executive of China's commercial satellite launching company once told him that the test program "can't afford a failure."
Foreign analysts think that Chinese designers got a jarring reminder of the difficulties of human spaceflight after the second Shenzhou test, conducted in January 2001. They say something went wrong on reentry--possibly a partial failure of parachute equipment-- and the capsule may have slammed down into the Inner Mongolian steppe. In contrast to the triumphant fanfare surrounding Shenzhou 3, not a single photograph of the capsule was released after the second test flight. "I'm not saying it was destroyed, but it was not something a human being would like to endure," says Vick.
Shenzhou 3 also was delayed on the pad. Vick has seen Western satellite images showing the rocket on the launch pad in August 2001, before it was removed for what he believes were modifications to both the booster and the capsule. The modifications suggest that the Chinese may be struggling to master what engineers refer to as systems integration, or getting all the elements of a space program-- from rockets to computers to the four tracking ships stationed at listening posts around the globe--working together smoothly.
Assuming Chinese astronauts make it into orbit sometime in the next couple of years, what then? In their rare public comments, Chinese researchers have talked about wanting to mine the moon and explore Mars--aspirations that the state press stresses don't have the backing of the government. But China clearly wants to go beyond just rocketing astronauts into orbit and bringing them home again. Clark points out that the early Shenzhou tests have already demonstrated that the capsules can reach orbits ideal for the planned space station. They pass over their launch base roughly every two days, which would offer frequent opportunities to send up supplies or switch crews. A second launch pad is under construction at Jiuquan, and that would allow two rockets to be launched within a short interval, carrying capsules to rendezvous with each other in orbit, dock with the station, or perhaps be joined in orbit in preparation for a lunar mission.
Outside observers aren't certain how far China's ambitions for a moon program have advanced--whether it's just a vague notion or a more detailed plan with a timetable. But the idea has a certain logic. "The Russians can't go to the moon [for lack of funds]; the Americans don't have the political will to go to the moon," Clark says. "Really, the Chinese are the only people who could realistically be going to the moon in the next 20 years."
Visitors to the Expo 2000 technology fair in Hannover, Germany, in October 2000 were intrigued by the centerpiece of the Chinese pavilion, a diorama showing astronaut mannequins driving a rover across the lunar surface, having just planted the flag of the People's Republic of China. Coming just 11 months after Shenzhou 1 completed its flawless first flight, the scene didn't look all that farfetched.
Originally published in Air & Space/Smithsonian, October/November 2002 . All rights reserved.

Interview: Why Does China Start Lunar Exploration Program?

The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (China National Aerospace Administration) recently announced: China will start the feasibility studies on the lunar exploration program and tackling of key technological problems this year. As China is a developing country, its financial resources are not rich, then why does it plan to launch the lunar exploration project, and what's its significance?

Luan Enjie, vice-minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense and director of the China National Aerospace Administration (CNAA), who is a member of the 10th CPPCC National Committee, now attending the "two sessions", accepted an exclusive interview.

CORRESPONDENT: At the end of the 90s of the last century, the second lunar exploration upsurge was set off in the world, could you tell me the basic situation regarding the lunar exploration?

LUAN ENJIE: At the end of the 50s of the last century, the United States and the former Soviet Union carried out space competition centered on lunar exploration, setting off the first lunar exploration upsurge. From 1958 to the end of August 1976, the United States and the former Soviet Union successfully launched 45 lunar probes. In July 1969, the American Apollo spaceship realized the first human moon landing, making epoch-making achievement in lunar exploration. The two countries obtained priceless lunar examples, data and experiences through lunar probing, greatly heightening human understanding of the moon, earth and solar systems, propelling and bringing about a series of innovations and development in basic science, science and technology, forming a large batch of high-tech industrial groups and producing remarkable social-economic efficiency. On the basis of lunar exploration, the United States and the former Soviet Union had again launched the activities of deep-space exploration of Mars, Venus, Saturn and other planets since 1977. In the late 1990s, many leading space countries or organizations of the world worked out ambitious lunar probing plans, once again warming up the lunar exploration activity. In 1995, the United States set forth its brand-new and complete lunar exploration program oriented toward the 21st century. In 1994, the European Space Bureau worked out a detailed plan for returning to the moon and establishing a lunar base, it will launch the first lunar satellite and gradually set up a lunar scientific research base in 2003. Japan has drafted a systematic lunar exploration program under which the country will launch the "Moon-A" in 2003 and the "god of moon" in 2004 and set up a lunar observation station in 2015. India has also formulated its lunar exploration program, planning to launch a lunar probe before or after 2006.

CORRESPONDENT: Compared with the first lunar exploration upsurge, what are the new characteristics of the world's second lunar probing upsurge?

LUAN ENJIE: Under the current lunar exploration plans of various countries in the world, they have clearer targets, larger scale and involve the participation of more countries for returning to the moon and setting up lunar bases. The main reasons for this are as follows:

Lunar exploration is the necessity of the development of science and technology, and the natural outcome of the development of space exploration. The lunar exploration project of the 1960s proves that space exploration is a project of high-tech and high rate of economic output, the genuine value it can turn out is much higher than the project itself. Lunar exploration can become the incubator of science and technology and can propel technological innovation and revolution related to the national economy.

After decades of development and through the digestion and assimilation of the early lunar exploration engineering technology, the various space countries have set up complete, advanced, economical and practical space technological industries and development systems. Principal space technologies such as manned aircraft and air transportation system have been highly mature, economically feasible, the technology for the construction of lunar bases has approached practicality.

Returning to the moon and building permanent bases is a vitally important first step in human development of outer space resources and expansion of living space. Through this project, human beings are enabled to learn how to "leave the earth homeland", establish permanent study stations of the type of Antarctic Pole, develop products and industries in the space outside the earth, and set up self-sufficient extraterrestrial homeland. Growing space application and space scientific demand, such as multi-space micro gravity science research conditions, the large-scale production of special biological products, have to be conducted and completed in "an outer space laboratory" as colossal as the moon. The prospect for the development and utilization of the lunar potential mineral and energy resources provide resource reserves for the sustainable development of human society, this factor is the most important driving force for return to the moon.

CORRESPONDENT: What's the significance of implementation of the lunar probing project to the development of China's science, technology and economy?

LUAN ENJIE: The launching of man-made earth satellite, manned spaceship and deep-space exploration are the three major fields of space activities of mankind. Returning to the moon, developing lunar resources and establishing lunar bases have become the inevitable trend and competitive hot spots in world space activities. After China's development of artificial earth satellite and implementation of manned aircraft, keeping pace with the times and timely carrying out deep-space exploration based mainly on lunar exploration is the inevitable choice of China's aerospace activities, as well as the necessary choice for the sustainable development of China's space activities, and for having something to do and accomplish and to make innovation. Carrying out lunar exploration work is an important move in the first step taken by China in deep-space exploration. Realization of lunar exploration will be a zero breakthrough in China's deep-space exploration. The moon has become the focal point wherein future aerospace powers contend for strategic resources. The moon contains various special resources for humanity to develop and use, the mineral and energy resources unique to the moon are important supplement and reserve to lunar resources, which will generate far-reaching influence on the sustainable development of human society. The helium-3 resource unique to lunar soil is a clean, efficient, safe and cheap new-type nuclear fusion fuel for mankind's future long-term use, and it will help change the energy structure of human society. Each gram of gold costs 11 US dollars, whereas each gram of helium-3 costs 400 US dollars. With the beginning of the 21st century, various countries around the world have shown stronger interest in lunar resources. Conducting lunar exploration will help enhance China's understanding of the moon and its ability to develop and utilize lunar resources. In addition, carrying out lunar exploration helps raise China's aerospace technological level and promote the development of space science and space application. Lunar exploration will become a third milestone in the development of China's space science and space technology. Lunar exploration represents a leap in aerospace technology and a new point of scientific and technology innovation, it helps promote implementation of the principle for rejuvenating the country through science and education, it will promote and enhance an all-round development of high and new technology, particularly the development of aerospace, information, photo-electricity technology and space application, and propel the innovation and development of space science, astronomy, life science and material science and other basic sciences. At present when the world program of returning to the moon has not yet been in full swing, we must seize the opportunity and start China's lunar exploration project as quickly as possible, to ensure that China has a niche in the international lunar exploration activity.

CORRESPONDENT: Are conditions available for carrying out lunar exploration on the basis of China's existing level of space science and technology?

LUAN ENJIE: After half a century efforts, China has established a complete supporting space scientific and technological industry system capable of developing and producing various types of aircraft and carrier rockets, has possessed aircraft launching sites capable of sending to orbit various types of satellites and manned spaceships and aerospace monitoring networks and has possessed a variety of satellite application and development systems and space scientific research systems, etc. These conditions have laid necessary material foundations for China's launch of the lunar exploration project. In light of China's national condition, the basic principles for China's launch of the lunar exploration project include: overall planning, integration of short- and long-range, step-by-step implementation and sustained development. Based on the comprehensive analysis of the success already gained in world lunar exploration, as well as various countries' strategic goals and implementing plans for "returning to the moon", and considering China's scientific and technological level, comprehensive national strength and overall development strategy, the project will follow the principle of "achieving faster, better and more economical results", and make full use of the existing mature technology. The lunar exploration satellite will use the Dongfanghong 3 satellite platform, various subsystems will also basically use other satellite mature technology. The use of the Long-March 3A carrier rocket can satisfy the requirement for the launch of lunar exploration satellite. China's existing S wave band space monitoring network, under the coordination of VLBI astronomical surveying network can complete the first-phase lunar surveying and monitoring task. The Chinese Academy of Sciences has initially possessed the ability of receiving, handling and interpreting the lunar exploratory data.

CORRESPONDENT: What are the characteristics of the program for the first phase project of China's lunar exploration compared with the early lunar exploration of the United States and the former Soviet Union?

LUAN ENJIE: The scientific goal for the first phase project of China's lunar exploration is: obtaining the lunar surface three-dimensional image; analyzing the content of lunar surface useful elements and the characteristics of the distribution of materials; surveying the thickness of lunar soil; and surveying the ground-moon spatial environment. This program has skipped over the early hard landing, nearby leap and other steps of the United States and the former Soviet Union, and directly stepped onto the lunar flying exploratory stage; the lunar orbit is an extreme full moon orbit, making it possible to conduct surveying of all surfaces of the moon; the selection of scientific targets, the all-round survey of the thickness of lunar soil and the amount of helium-3 resources have never been carried out in other countries and survey of lunar surface three-dimensional image and useful elements was only conducted in part of lunar surface in the past.

By People's Daily Online

People's Daily Online --- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.