China conquers space: Towards a great power!

Three Chinese astronauts have just been sent into space, starting a six-month mission to work on the country's new space station. This is China's latest move in becoming the leading space power in decades to come.

Answer about Tiangong Space Station

Last year, China put into orbit the first modular Tiangong space station. They plan to increase the number of modules to serve separate functional activities on Tiangong. Accordingly, China will launch the Mengtian science laboratory module by the end of this year.

Next year, they will launch a space telescope, called Xuntian. The system will fly close to the main space station so that it can be moved there when it needs maintenance and refueling.

Tiangong will have its own system, propulsion, life support system and living quarters.

China is the third country in history to send both astronauts into space and build a space station, after the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the US.

They have big ambitions for Tiangong and hope this station can replace the International Space Station (ISS), which is scheduled to be decommissioned in 2031.

Chinese astronauts are not allowed to go to the ISS because US law prohibits its space agency, Nasa, from sharing data with China.

The Long March-2F rocket, carrying the Shenzhou 14 spacecraft and three astronauts, took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 5 to enter orbit.

China's plan to go to the Moon and Mars

China's ambitions do not end there. A few years from now, they want to sample samples from near-Earth asteroids.

By 2030, they aim to send the first astronauts to the Moon and send probes to collect samples from Mars and Jupiter.

What are other countries doing?

As China expands its role in space, a number of other countries are also aiming to go to the Moon.

Nasa plans to return to the Moon with astronauts from the US and other countries from 2025 and is working on finishing its new giant SLS rocket at Kennedy Space Center,

Japan, Korea, Russia, India, United Arab Emirates (UAE) are also working on their own Moon missions.

India has launched its second-biggest Moon mission and wants to have its own space station by 2030.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency, which now works with Nasa on lunar missions, is also planning to build a network of satellites around the Moon to help astronauts communicate with Earth more easily. easier.

Regulations in space?

The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty states that no country can claim sovereignty over space.

The 1979 UN Moon Agreement also said space could not be exploited for commercial purposes, but the US, China and Russia refused to sign on to it.

Now, the US is promoting the Artemis Agreement, which outlines how nations can extract minerals on the Moon in a cooperative way.

Russia and China will not sign this Agreement saying that the US has no right to make space rules

China's history in space?

China put its first satellite into orbit in 1970. The other major powers that went into space at that time were the United States, the Soviet Union, France, and Japan. In the past 10 years, China has launched more than 200 rockets. They have also deployed an unmanned spacecraft to the Moon, called Chang'e 5, to collect and return rock samples. They planted a Chinese flag on the surface of the Moon - larger than previous American flags.

With the launch of Shenzhou 14, China sent 14 astronauts into space, compared with 340 for the US and more than 130 for the Soviet Union (and now Russia).

However, the country has also made some setbacks. In 2021, part of China's rocket fell out of orbit and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, and the country also had two unsuccessful launches into space in 2020.

Sources of funding for China's space program?

China's state media Xinhua said at least 300,000 people have worked on China's space projects - nearly 18 times more than currently working for Nasa.

China's National Space Administration was established in 2003 with an initial annual budget of two billion yuan ($300 million).

However, in 2016, China opened up its space industry to private companies, and these companies are now investing more than 10 billion yuan ($1.5 billion) a year, according to tradition. Chinese communication.

Why did China go into space?

China is keen to develop its satellite technology, to develop telecommunications, air traffic management, weather forecasting and navigation, etc.

But according to the BBC, many of their satellites also have military purposes. They can help spy on rival powers and guide long-range missiles.

Lucinda King, space project director at the University of Portsmouth, said China is not only focused on large-scale space missions: "They are very powerful in every aspect of space. They are politically motivated. and resources to fund planned programs".

China's Moon missions are partly motivated by the opportunity to mine rare earth metals from the lunar surface, such as lithium.

However, Professor Sa'id Mosteshar, Director of the Academy of Space Law and Policy at University College London, says that perhaps the country won't pay for just sending mining craft multiple times to the Moon. Instead, China's space program is motivated more by a desire to impress the rest of the world. "The space program is an indicator of power and a demonstration of technological progress."