Oct 07, 2005 -- BBC Monitoring
China is likely to send a man to the Moon and set up a space
station by 2020, a designer with the nation's lunar exploration
programme said yesterday.
Jiang Jingshan, a designer with the Chinese Lunar
Orbiting Exploration programme, said solving the country's
long-term energy shortage would be among the aims of the
three-phase Moon-exploration programme. Professor Jiang said the
first stage would involve sending a satellite to orbit the Moon in
the first half of 2007. In the second phase, robots would be sent
to land on the moon's surface to collect samples over four to five
years. "Then we'll spend the next seven years mastering
technologies that can send our astronauts to and from the moon
safely. We have to guarantee that they'll be safe ... if things go
well, we will send astronauts to the moon by 2020," he said.
Professor Jiang said a unique feature of China's lunar mission was
to measure the depth and density of helium-3 coating the Moon's
surface. Helium-3, regarded as a clean, safe and cheap energy
resource for nuclear fusion by scientists, is abundant on the
Moon, but scarce on Earth. "By measuring the depth of the helium-3
coating, we can have a clearer picture of its exact amount.
According to the US, there are 3m tonnes of helium-3 on the Moon.
This amount could satisfy the globe's energy needs for millions of
years," he said. Professor Jiang said the space station would be
built "in line with China's situation". "We would tend not to
build a very big one, like that of the US," he said. "It's not
necessary to spend that much money. It will be big enough for
three to five people to work inside." With Shenzhou VI, China's
second manned spacecraft, expected to take off next week from
Jiuquan , Professor Jiang said the flight would break new ground
in China's space programme. "Shenzhou V was a breakthrough because
it was our first manned mission. Shenzhou VI is another as we are
sending two astronauts into space for five days."
Source: South China Morning Post website, Hong Kong, in English
7 Oct 05
BBC Mon AS1 AsPol asm
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