China and Europe are seeking to have a human outpost on the moon. The Chinese and European space agencies are discussing an alliance on a moonbase as well as other likely joint endeavors as indicated by media reports and spokespeople. Tian Yulong, the secretary general of China Space Agency was the first to disclose the news to the China State media while Pal Hvistendahl who is a spokesman for the European Space Agency confirmed the news.
Pal said, “The Chinese have a very ambitious moon program already in place. Space has changed since the space race of the 60’s.” He also added that they recognize that exploring the space for peaceful intention requires international cooperation.
Johann Dietrich Woener the director general of the 22-member ESA detailed the expected ‘Moon Village’ as a likely international launching pad for the future missions to Mars as well as a chance to work on space tourism or lunar mining.
China’s ambitions
China made its arrival to space travel notable late but it has ramped up its efforts since it manned space left for the first time in 2003, which was over 42 years after a Soviet cosmonaut was declared the first man to reach the orbit.
China National Space Administration debuted an unnamed spacecraft last week in a bid to dock with currently vacant space station. The Chinese Space Authority is planning to introduce a mission to gather samples from the moon before the end of this year and then conduct the first ever mission to the moon’s far side next year in which they hope to bring back mineral samples.
The ESA is planning to conduct a mission analysis on the samples brought back by the CSA mission in this year which they have labeled Change 5. They also hope to take part in the Chinese space mission in the future through having a European flying on the Chinese space station. None of the prospects have been finalized.
China was initially excluded from the International Space Station mainly because of the fact that U.S. legislation was barring the cooperation and concerns over the strong military space program by the Chinese.
