BEIJING, Jan 4 — China’s ambitions to conquer space will take a big leap forward this year, as the country embarks on the most extensive space development programme in the world in decades.
The aim is to fire China towards its two long-held space dreams — to land a man on the moon and to set up a space station by 2020.
A second lunar probe, the Chang’e-2, is lined up for October, continuing the 16-month orbit of the Chang’e-1 which ended last March.
The first piece of a Chinese space station is also likely to take shape towards the end of the year, with the launch of the unmanned space docking module Tiangong-1, or Heavenly Palace-1.
Major construction on a new major spaceport will be carried out this year on southern Hainan island. It will be the growing power’s fourth space centre.
While these developments may not be as eye-catching as the first Chinese spacewalk in 2008, they will be breakthroughs in China’s space programme.
“China in 2010 will be engaged in the most ambitious and diverse manned and unmanned space system research and development surge since the US and Soviet Union squared off in the 1960s space race,” wrote veteran aerospace editor Craig Covault in online Spaceflight Now last week.
China rocket-fired into an exclusive space club in 2003 when it became only the third country, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to send a man into orbit.
It was a major breakthrough for the country’s Project 921, which was established in 1992, with plans to have human space flight and a permanent space station.
A manned moon landing is not on China’s official space programme. But despite denials from officials, most observers believe that is where the country is heading.
The Chang’e-2, for example, will prepare for a first unmanned moon landing by the end of 2012. According to Chinese state media, it will “test the soft-landing technological capability” for Chang’e-3, which is believed to be a nuclear-powered lunar lander and rover.
“If the lunar vehicle can land on the moon, it will be far more effective than robots in collecting samples from the lunar surface,” Professor Jiao Weixin from the Peking University’s School of Earth and Space Sciences told The Straits Times.
The Chang’e-2 will be watched as closely as the Tiangong-1, which is expected to push China even further ahead in an Asian space race involving India, Japan and South Korea.
If Tiangong-1 is successful, the next few Chinese spaceships are expected to dock with it, before more space laboratories are added.
Space docking is regarded as one of the most sophisticated manoeuvres in space technology as it requires precise controlling of two high-speed spacecraft. It also allows astronauts to live and conduct research in zero gravity.
“If China can successfully build its space station, it will not just be astronauts doing tests. Even scientists and other experts can be in space to do research,” said Jiao.
But for China’s space programme to develop even faster, it will need Russian and US cooperation. The Americans have been reluctant to share their expertise and the Russians are holding back.
While Russia and China are supposed to kick off five joint space programmes this year, experts and the Chinese state media are not optimistic, pointing to a lack of mutual trust.
Referring to the Russian postponement of a joint mission to Mars last year, military expert Song Xiaojun told China Daily: “China has been cheated by Russia.” — The Straits Times
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