This idea seems to suggest that the Chinese would do a simple "token" manned landing on the Moon, but I do not believe this to be the case.The Chinese always seem to be thinking in the long-term for its space programme: for example, Project 921 produced not "a man in a can" but a modern space station ferry from the outset: of course, the Chinese have been able to draw upon the experiences of the Russians and Americans when planning their programme.When the Chinese go to the Moon I don't believe we will see a token mission. Maybe the first one or two will be like Apollos 11-14, but I feel sure that the Chinese are seriously eyeing a lunar base, in which case the programme's infrastructure will have this built-in from the beginning.
To repeat, the Chinese have no plans to land anyone on the Moon. Debating about the nature of a program that does not exist is rather pointless, because if the Chinese ever do decide to have a lunar landing program, the context of that decision will be much more important than anything else.
To repeat, the Chinese have no plans to land anyone on the Moon.
From my understanding, I believe this is not PR stuff. ...1) Former Chinese President Jiang Zeming was not ousted. ...2) Chinese presidents have welcomed the space exploration since Chairman Mao. ... It will be a legacy to be remembered if any president could send human to the moon.3) Chinese presidents are quite different from US presidents. Most Chinese presidents now are from engineering background and most US presidents are lawyers. I believe people know the difference between engineers and lawyers. Just my three cents.
If the Chinese have a Moon program, then we have a Mars program, an asteroid program, and a Moon program at the same time. Heck, throw in a Jupiter program while you're at it.
If we see a picture of a ground-test article of a lunar lander, then we know they are serious. Or if they start building a launch vehicle that can serve no other realistic purpose other than exploration.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 01/23/2012 06:03 pmIf we see a picture of a ground-test article of a lunar lander, then we know they are serious. Or if they start building a launch vehicle that can serve no other realistic purpose other than exploration.I'm not certain we can use those as measures of whether a program is serious. We saw no ground test article of the CxP LSAM. NASA did not start building Ares V. Yet CxP was a serious attempt at human lunar exploration, albeit a failed one.(This isn't a claim that China is as far along in their effort as CxP was. They're obviously not.)
According to the plan, heavy launch will have 10 m diameter and approximately 100 m length, and it will have 5 times launch capacity as the current launcher, and will have more launch capacity than SLS. The heavy launcher will fulfill Human Moon Exploration, Mars Sample Return, Solar system planet exploration and many other deep space exploration missions."
Quote from: Steven Pietrobon on 11/07/2016 07:42 amAccording to the plan, heavy launch will have 10 m diameter and approximately 100 m length, and it will have 5 times launch capacity as the current launcher, and will have more launch capacity than SLS. The heavy launcher will fulfill Human Moon Exploration, Mars Sample Return, Solar system planet exploration and many other deep space exploration missions."Sounds like, especially with a goal of 2020 (which beats SLS' manned deadline), they're passive-aggressively challenging NASA.
The Chinese have consistently predicted that the CZ-9 will start flying around 2030.
A landing gear for manned lunar landing was designed base on the dynamic analysis of landing impact. System simulation analysis and calculation for lunar landing gear was done including the dynamics analysis, vibration response analysis and impact analysis of landing. The full-scale principle prototype of landing gear for manned lunar landing was established with the designing and simulation results, experimental verification was done base on the analysis and optimization result. The development laid the technical foundation for the large gathering ratio, large size, heavy weight, low overload of manned lunar landing gear.