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according to cctv news, the national space administration announced on september 24 that after completing the chang'e-6 mission, china's lunar exploration project will lay the foundation for an international lunar research station through two more launch missions, and the first launch mission will be carried out as early as 2026.

in an interview, bian zhigang, deputy director of the national space administration, said, "there will definitely be wireless networks and energy on the moon. as for whether vegetables can be grown, scientists are still studying it. chang'e 8 may conduct scientific research in this area."

conceptual image of the lunar research station (source: cctv news)

the "lunar research station" is coming

according to the plan, my country will launch chang'e-7 in 2026 and chang'e-8 around 2028.

bian zhigang, deputy director of the national space administration, said that chang'e-7 was to survey the environment and resources of the lunar south pole, and chang'e-8 was to verify the technology of using lunar resources on site and lay a foundation for the construction of a lunar scientific research station. a basic lunar scientific research station will be built around 2035.

it is reported that the construction of the international lunar research station will be divided into two phases:

the first phase is basic construction, which will be centered on the lunar south pole and have scientific research capabilities within a range of 100 kilometers. through the integrated earth-moon information network, it will achieve interconnection and interoperability among multiple tasks such as unmanned lunar exploration, manned lunar landing, and international cooperation, forming a comprehensive lunar-based scientific research platform with basically complete functions and elements.

the second stage is expansion construction. before 2050, a comprehensive lunar station network will be built with the lunar orbital station as the hub, the lunar south pole station as the center, and the lunar equator and the far side of the moon as detection nodes. this will form a large-scale comprehensive scientific research platform that can be unmanned for a long time, manned for a short time, with complete functions and continuous and stable operation.

conceptual image of the lunar research station (source: cctv news)

can we surf the internet and grow vegetables on the moon?

so, can we surf the internet and live on the moon? guan feng, director of the lunar exploration and space engineering center of the national space administration, pointed out that chang'e 8 must consider the communication capability. there will definitely be wireless networks and energy on the moon. as for whether vegetables can be grown, scientists are still studying it. chang'e 8 may conduct scientific research in this area.

in fact, chinese researchers have made new discoveries about whether it is possible to grow vegetables on the moon.

recently, in the lunar soil samples brought back by my country's chang'e-5 mission, chen xiaolong's team from the institute of physics of the chinese academy of sciences discovered a mineral crystal, ulm-1, which is rich in water molecules and ammonium. this discovery provides new "hard evidence" for the existence of water on the moon. if water sources can be found on the moon, the cost of transporting water from earth will be greatly reduced.

in addition, the water can be used for plant cultivation and agricultural production. planting some vegetables and grain crops in the lunar base will help achieve partial food self-sufficiency and reduce the cost and risk of transporting food from the earth.

it was also discovered that this type of hydrated mineral is rich in ammonium, which is a nitrogen fertilizer. we use ammonium bicarbonate on earth. in addition, there is a small amount of potassium, which is a potash fertilizer. this discovery provides great possibilities for humans to grow crops on the moon in the future.

in the view of researchers, confirming the existence of water on the moon and estimating the amount of water is crucial to the planning and construction of the "lunar research station" and "lunar village". the existence of this newly discovered water molecule also provides new ideas for the development and utilization of lunar resources, which may change the future development model of lunar resources.

an imaginary diagram of a lunar nuclear reactor power source (source: china aerospace news)

russia invites construction of nuclear power plant

according to previous reports, yuri borisov, president of the russian state space corporation, said recently that russia is considering cooperating with china to start building a nuclear power plant on the moon between 2033 and 2035. he said that based on this, people could one day establish settlements on the moon.

borisov said russia and china have been jointly carrying out lunar scientific research programs, and russia can contribute with its expertise in "nuclear space energy," the report said.

"today we are seriously considering a project - around 2033 to 2035 - together with our chinese counterparts to deliver and install a power unit on the lunar surface." he said solar panels would not be able to provide enough electricity for possible future lunar settlements, but nuclear energy could.

"this is a very serious challenge," borisov said of the potential plan.

borisov also talked about russia's plan to build a nuclear-powered cargo ship, saying that all technical problems of the project have been solved except for how to cool the nuclear reactor.

it is also reported that in july 2020, the space agencies of china and russia confirmed the cooperation on the international lunar research station. in march 2021, the governments of china and russia signed the memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the construction of the international lunar research station, launching the cooperation on the international lunar research station.

in april 2021, the "joint statement of the china national space administration and the russian state space corporation on cooperation in the construction of an international lunar research station" was released, which demonstrated the confidence and determination of china and russia to cooperate in the fields of the moon and deep space.

jimu news integrates cctv news, people's daily online, xinhua news agency, huanqiu.com, china aerospace news, institute of physics, chinese academy of sciences

(source: jimu news)

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