Intrepid moon mission to return samples excites world
The flames of the Long March- 5 Y5 ignited the calm tropical dawn of South China’s Hainan Province on Tuesday. Its thundering takeoff shook the world with excitement as with the latest flight of China’s strongest carrier rocket, the Chang’e- 5, the country blasted off in the latest step in its ambitious schedule of lunar missions, which, in a world’s first, will send the Chang’e- 5 probe to the moon and back with samples from the lunar surface.
Many Chinese space enthusiasts spent a sleepless night to witness the successful launch of the Chang’e- 5 mission from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan just after 4.30 am ( Beijing time), in what observers said is the boldest mission yet, and its first quest to retrieve extraterrestrial material and return it to the Earth.
The Chang’e- 5 probe is expected to carry out a lunar sample collection, takeoff from the moon, rendezvous and dock in lunar orbit and to undertake a high- speed reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere, marking breakthroughs in China’s aerospace history.
The Tuesday launch marked a good start, but the challenges of these firsts lie ahead, observers noted.
Worldwide space event
The international community is also closely following China’s remarkable achievement, and has sent congratulations upon the huge success.
US space agency NASA’s Associate Administrator Thomas Zurbuchen tweeted that
he looks forward to seeing how China’s mission will advance the international scientific community. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk called the launch an “exciting” feat and one of the most challenging missions in aerospace history.
Media around the world hailed China’s achievement, as Russia Today pointed out that China “sets incremental targets and goals, and they build on what they’ve achieved and make more ambitious targets.”
NASA addressed the probe’s launch on Twitter shortly after the liftoff. However, the tweet is more of an appeal for China to share its data acquired from the mission with the rest of the world.
“We hope China shares its data with the global scientific community to enhance our understanding of the Moon like our Apollo missions did & the Artemis program will,” read NASA’s tweet.
In fact, before the US space agency’s plea, Pei Zhaoyu, the mission spokesperson and deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the CNSA, told the media that concerning China’s lunar exploration, China sets its own scientific and engineering goals but adheres “to the goals of peaceful development.”
“The current information sharing between China and the US in the field of aerospace is far from standing on equal ground. The US only seeks cooperation and data sharing with those who acquire unique breakthroughs in certain fields, but excludes countries with less advanced technologies,” said Song Zhongping, an aerospace observer and TV commentator.
Future of China- US space cooperation
Although the 2020 US presidential election did not mention much about space policies, NASA is worried over Joe Biden’s potential “softer touch” on the space cooperation issue with China, compared with the ongoing push of American space dominance and an increased funding for NASA under the Trump administration.
Despite the dire difficulty brought about by the COVID- 19 pandemic, China has managed to not only rein in the virus, but also maintain its progressive pace in the space sector, with world- leading launch numbers and extremely high quality, underscoring its strong resilience and competitiveness.
NASA has indeed felt China’s emerging power in the space sector, responding with anxious actions, analysts said.
Excluding China to date, the US space authorities under the Trump administration rolled out a legal blueprint code- named the Artemis Accords for mining on the moon, proposing “safety zones” surrounding future moon bases in a bid to prevent damage or interference from rival countries and companies, with “like- minded” space partners such as Canada, Japan, European countries as well as the United Arab Emirates.
China has criticized the plan as a display of American space hegemony, in efforts to develop a new space version of an “Enclosure Movement” in pursuit of colonization and to claim sovereignty of the moon.
Faced with these challenges, China needs to maintain an open attitude that welcomes the international community to join forces in the development of space exploration, be it the building of space stations or deep- space exploration, Song said.