China’s present and future lunar exploration program

Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 365 (6450) ◽  
pp. 238-239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunlai Li ◽  
Chi Wang ◽  
Yong Wei ◽  
Yangting Lin
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Scientific Exploration

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the pace of lunar exploration has accelerated, with more than a dozen probes having undertaken scientific exploration of the Moon. Prominent among these have been the robotic “Chang’E” (CE) missions of the China Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP). We discuss technological and scientific goals and achievements for the four completed, and four planned, CE missions, and longer-term goals and plans of the CLEP beyond the CE missions. The exploration plan is flexible and iterative, with an emphasis on international cooperation.

New Economy in space: Cis-lunar economic circle and analogue simulations in China to the 2061 Horizon

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
guo linli ◽  
blanc michel ◽  
huang tieqiu ◽  
huang jiangze ◽  
yuan jianping ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Cooperation ◽  
Lunar Surface ◽  
Space Exploration ◽  
Shaanxi Province ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
Test Field ◽  
The Moon ◽  
Liquid Propellant ◽  
The Earth

<p>    The Moon is sometimes also called the "eighth continent" of the Earth. Determining how to utilize cis-lunar orbital infrastructures and lunar resources to carry out new economic activities extended to the space of the Earth-Moon system is one of the long-term goals of lunar exploration activities around the world. Future long-term human deep-space exploration missions to the Moon, on the Moon surface or using the Moon to serve farther destinations will require the utilization of lunar surface or asteroid resources to produce water, oxygen and other consumables needed to maintain human survival and to produce liquid propellant for the supply of spacecraft on the lunar surface. In complement to exploration activities, Moon tourism in cis-lunar orbit and on the lunar surface will become more and more attractive with the increase of  human spaceflight capacity and the development of commercial space activities. However, the development of a sustainable Earth-Moon ecosystem requires that we solve the following five problems:</p><p>(1)How to design alow-cost cis-lunar space transportation capacity? To find an optimal solution, one must compare direct Earth-Moon flight modes with flights based on the utilization of space stations, and identify the most economical spacecraft architectures.</p><p>(2)How to design an efficient set ofcis-lunar orbital infrastructures combining LEO space stations, Earth-Moon L1/L2 point space stations and Moon bases for commercial tourism, taking into account key issues such as energy, communications and others?</p><p>(3)Significant amounts ofliquid oxygen, water, liquid propellant and structural material will be needed for human bases, crew environmental control and life support systems, spacecraft propulsion systems, Moon surface storage and transportation systems. How to  design in-situ resources utilization (ISRU) of the Moon, including its soil, rocks and polar water ice reservoirs, to produce the needed amounts?</p><p>(4) How to simulate on the Earth surface the different components and key technologies that will enable a future long-term human residence on the Moon surface?</p><p>(5). How to accommodate the co-development of public and commercial space and foster international cooperation? How can space policies and international space law help this co-development?</p><p>    China has made rapid progress in robotic lunar exploration activities in the last 20 years, as illustrated by the recent discoveries provided by the Chang'e-4 lander on the far side of the Moon. By 2061, China will have gone into manned lunar exploration and built Moon bases. In preparation for this new phase of its contribution to space exploration, lunar surface simulation instruments have been built in Beijing, Shenzhen and other places in China. A series of achievements have been made in the field of space life sciences . An ambitious project to establish a large Moon base simulation test field, the Lunar Base Yulin (LBY) project, currently in its design phase in Yulin, Shaanxi Province in China, will allow the verification of key relevant technologies.</p><p>    By the 2061 Horizon, we believe that international cooperation and public-private partnership will be key elements to enable this vision of a new, sustainable cis-lunar space economy.</p>

Towards a rules-based order for the emergence of a space resources-based economy leading to a lunar renaissance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vidvuds Beldavs ◽  
Bernard Foing ◽  
Jim Crisafulli ◽  
Dennis O'Brien
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Conflict Resolution ◽  
Knowledge Sharing ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Exploration And Development

<p>The International Lunar Decade (ILD) is proposed as a framework for international cooperation in lunar exploration and development from 2021-2030. ILD is inspired by the International Geophysical Year (IGY - 1957-8) when 66 countries and tens of thousands of scientists cooperated to understand planet Earth as a whole. Satellites were launched by the USSR. and the U.S. marking the dawn of the space age. Discovery of the Van Allen belts and knowledge and capabilities across many fields gained thru IGY led to the technologies that undergird the modern economy that depend on satellites for global communications, positioning and navigation, and Earth observation. IGY fostered international cooperation that has enabled global challenges like climate change to be understood and strategies framed to enable global action to mitigate climate change and other emerging global threats.</p> <p>As with IGY the ILD global initiative will be coordinated by a small secretariat established by the UN. Countries, international organizations such as COSPAR, NGOs, universities, cities and regions, and private firms will propose and manage projects with knowledge coordination thru the ILD secretariat and knowledge sharing thru numerous mechanisms many with a legacy to IGY.</p> <p>In the coming decades the ILD as a framework for development of a rules-based order can have an impact comparable to the future creating transformational impact of IGY. A rules-based order is necessary for sustainable development. A rules-based order enables effective conflict resolution. Poor conflict resolution leads to the development of weapons, fielding of militaries, hostilities and war – the most wasteful, costly and destructive human activity.</p> <p>ILD is intended to open opportunities for small and developing countries to take part in creating the space-resources economy building upon the lunar exploration activities initiated by the U.S. and larger spacefaring powers including Russia, China, ESA, India, Japan, and others that are already actively involved in lunar exploration. A rules-based order enables shared infrastructures and international financing mechanism that enable infrastructure financing and the cooperation that enables knowledge sharing and that can accelerate adoption of innovations. The ILD enables the rules-based order in outer space that opens the possibility for sustainable development for centuries to come while strengthening the international cooperation necessary to avert global catastrophe in the decade ahead. ILD provides a framework to enable a rules-based order necessary for success in meeting UN Space 2030 goals.</p> <p>The specific goal of ILD is to achieve sustainable presence on the Moon by 2030. The ILD framework will enable the development of policies for use of lunar resources as well as to govern operations on the Moon by multiple parties. The ILD offers the opportunity to advance a rules-based order to govern humankind’s expansion into the Solar System to fulfill the intent of space treaties that have been negotiated thus far thru the United Nations whose aspiration is summarized in Article I of the Outer Space Treaty:</p> <p>The exploration and use of outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, shall be carried out for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, irrespective of their degree of economic or scientific development, and shall be the province of all mankind.</p> <p>The ILD is fully consistent with and welcomes all other lunar exploration and development initiatives including the Moon Village, the U.S. Artemis project, China's Chang'e Project, and other initiatives. The ILD provides a framework for cooperation that can boost and broaden all lunar exploration and development initiatives that do not have a military orientation.  </p>

The Making of the Moon

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Chambers ◽  
Jacqueline Mitton
Keyword(s):  
European Space Agency ◽  
Lunar Exploration ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
The Public ◽  
China And India ◽  
Space Agency ◽  
Lunar Prospector ◽  
Large Satellite ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter considers how the very existence of the Moon, the only large satellite in the inner solar system, is a puzzle. The Moon is sufficiently large that one would think of it as a planet if it traveled around the Sun rather than Earth. Much of what the public now knows about the Moon comes from space missions, beginning in the 1960s and early 1970s. Six American Apollo missions each landed two astronauts on the surface. Three of the Soviet Union's unmanned Luna spacecraft touched down on the surface and then returned to Earth. After a long gap, lunar exploration resumed in the 1990s, when NASA's Clementine and Lunar Prospector spacecraft went into orbit. Recently, the pace of exploration has increased again, with the European Space Agency, Japan, China, and India, as well as NASA, all sending missions to the Moon.

Scientific Exploration of Mare Imbrium with OrbitBeyond, Inc.: Characterizing the Regional Volcanic History of the Moon

New Space ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 137-150
Author(s):  
Ashley M. Palumbo ◽  
Ariel N. Deutsch ◽  
Michael S. Bramble ◽  
Jesse D. Tarnas ◽  
Benjamin D. Boatwright ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
The Moon ◽  
Volcanic History ◽  
Scientific Exploration ◽  
History Of

International Cooperation Theory and International Institutions

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinyuan Dai ◽  
Duncan Snidal ◽  
Michael Sampson
Keyword(s):  
International Relations ◽  
Rational Choice ◽  
International Cooperation ◽  
21St Century ◽  
International Institutions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Game Theoretic

The study of international cooperation has emerged and evolved over the past few decades as a cornerstone of international relations research. The strategy here for reviewing such a large literature is to focus primarily on the rational choice and game theoretic approaches that instigated it and have subsequently guided its advance. Without these theoretical efforts, the study of international cooperation could not have made nearly as much progress—and it certainly would not have taken the form it does in the 21st century. Through this lens, we can identify major themes in this literature and highlight key challenges for future research

scholarly journals Venus

1986 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Sagdeev
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Celestial Body ◽  
Outer Space ◽  
The Sun ◽  
The Moon ◽  
International Astronomical Union ◽  
Scientific Exploration ◽  
Short Notice ◽  
International Astronomical ◽  
The Usa

I feel very honoured at having been asked by the IAU Executive to present Prof. Sagdeev’s invited discourse on Venus in his absence. As has already been mentioned Prof. Sagdeev was summoned to the talks between the USSR and the USA in Geneva as an expert in Space Research. He went there with several very important proposals for future cooperation in scientific exploration of outer space and we all hope that the results of his mission will be beneficial for the development of space astronomy and therefore for the whole astronomical community represented by the International Astronomical Union. I am sure that all present in this room realize that it is not an easy task to present someone else’s lecture especially at such short notice and in a foreign language. Besides, it is my opinion that a talk on Venus – the brightest celestial body in the sky except the moon and the Sun – Venus which always has been the symbol of beauty, love and femininity, that such a talk should surely be given by a man.

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