Lunar missions, giant telescope: when space China awakens

Is China going to become in the 21st century what American NASA was in the 20th century: a leader in space? In any case, the Middle Empire is giving itself the means to catch up with the Americans, the Russians or the Europeans in the space field and does not intend to let the new players in the field. NewSpace like Space X or Blue Origin, the monopoly on innovations.

This week, China can be satisfied with having occupied the limelight with two flagship projects.

The first was to bring rocks from the Moon to Earth, a first such mission in over 40 years and the manned mission Apollo 17 (1972) and the Soviet Luna 24 (1976). The Chang’e 5 space probe’s return module landed “successfully” in the region of Inner Mongolia (north), with samples on board which, after analysis, will provide a better understanding of lunar history. The mission also made it possible to refine the technologies needed to send Chinese astronauts to the Moon, Beijing’s major objective by 2030. “It is a technological feat. Such a complex mission is still very difficult to accomplish. achieve today, even for the United States, Russia and other space powers, “said Chen Lan, analyst for the site GoTaikonauts.com, specializing in the Chinese space program.

The second space project in which China is famous concerns space exploration. As the famous giant telescope of Arecibo, in Puerto Rico, collapsed earlier this month, China is preparing to open to international researchers in 2021 the Fast radio telescope, the largest in the world with a 500-meter dish. diameter, or 30 football fields … Installed in the Pingtang mountains, in the province of Guizhou (southwest), and built between 2011 and 2016, Fast is up to three times more sensitive than the Arecibo radio telescope which it ‘is inspired. Surrounded by a zone of “radio silence” with a radius of 5 km so as not to disturb the measurements – which necessitated the expropriation of thousands of villagers – Fast will mainly be used to capture the radio signals emitted by celestial bodies , especially pulsars, but also to “detect possible extraterrestrial civilizations”, according to Wang Qiming, head of the operations and development center. In accordance with international practice, Fast will accept, from 2021, requests from foreign scientists wishing to carry out measurements there.

–