I found this old thread about China's manned lunar exploration ambitions for the sake of relevance to the topic of this thread:https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=2919.0Back in 2006, anonymous CNSA officials were were quoted by a Hong Kong newspaper as saying that China was hoping to conduct the first manned mission on the Moon's surface by 2024. Of course, even though development of the Long March 9 began in the mid-2010s, we know that the CNSA's target window of 2024 for a manned lunar moonwalk was tentative and quite too ambitious given that China at the time didn't develop the know-how to try to make a rocket engine for a lunar SLV work.
CNSA/CMS’s latest CG concept pictures of its lunar rover, lunar lander and lunar research station. Source: buff.ly/3pIOkYv
Thought it appropriate to have a separate thread for this, given this week's announcement of the names for the lunar ferry and lunar lander
The name of the new vehicle for China's manned lunar exploration mission has been officially determinedRelease date: 2024-02-24Source: China Manned Space Engineering NetworkRecently, the name of the new vehicle for China's manned lunar exploration mission has been determined, the new generation of manned spacecraft has been named "Mengzhou", and the lunar lander has been named "Lanyue".After the construction of China's space station is completed, landing on the moon has become the next goal for Chinese to explore space. With the full launch of the lunar landing phase of the manned lunar exploration project, the naming of new vehicles for manned lunar exploration has also been put on the agenda.In August 2023, the China Manned Space Engineering Office launched a solicitation of names for new manned lunar exploration missions for the public, which attracted widespread attention and enthusiastic participation from the whole society, and received nearly 2,000 submissions from organizations and people from all walks of life in the fields of aerospace, science and technology, and cultural communication. After expert selection and review, the new generation of manned spacecraft was named "Mengzhou" and the lunar lander was named "Lanyue".The name of the new aircraft has distinctive Chinese characteristics, characteristics of the times and cultural characteristics. "Mengzhou" means that manned lunar exploration carries the Chinese's space dream, starts a new journey of space exploration, and also reflects the system inheritance with the Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft families; the new generation of manned spacecraft includes two models: the lunar version and the near-earth version of the subsequent space station mission, of which the lunar version adopts "Mengzhou" (spacecraft name + capital initial of the syllable of the word "moon"). "Catching the Moon" is taken from Chairman Mao's poem "You can go up to the moon in nine days", highlighting the heroism and confidence of Chinese in exploring the universe and landing on the moon. Previously, the new generation of manned launch vehicles had been named "Long March 10".At present, the Mengzhou spacecraft, the Lanyue lander, and the Long March-10 carrier rocket have fully entered the stage of initial sample development, and all work is progressing smoothly.(Editor in charge: Hao Yizhan)
CNSA plans moon exploration: Chang'e 7 (2026) to study resources, Chang'e 8 (2028) for testing, and manned landing (2029-2030) with "Dreamboat" spacecraft and "Embrace Moon" lander. Source:m.weibo.cn/status/ODjmf57…
CMSA has selected two proposals, designed by SAST and CAST, of lunar roving vehicles into the round of prototyping before the final decision of which to carry out the human lunar landing mission. https://www.cmse.gov.cn/xwzx/202410/t20241028_55835.html