A Chinese official revealed on Thursday the future planning of more lunar missions to end up establishing a lunar base and hosting human explorers.
The announcement by the deputy commander-in-chief of China’s lunar exploration program, Wu Yanhua, comes after the success of China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft that landed on Earth on Wednesday after collecting nearly 2 kilograms. of lunar rock samples, the Associated Press reported.
Wu did not offer a specific date for a manned mission to the moon or for the construction of a base, although it was noted that there are plans for future probe missions with Chang’e 6, 7 and 8.
In addition, Wu announced future explorations to collect samples from Mars, asteroids and possible trips to the planet Jupiter.
“China is ready to continue to contribute to the world and improve human well-being with Chinese space solutions,” Wu said.
The country’s last trip to the Moon brought many new developments for the National Space Administration of China (CNSA), including the collection of rock samples younger than the American and Soviet types previously collected from 1969 to 1972. In addition, the mission launched a lunar vehicle onto the lunar surface that is used to transfer rock samples.
“As our nation’s most complex and technically innovative space mission, Chang’e 5 has made multiple technical advances … and represents a major success,” CNSA said in a statement.
China became the third country in 2003 to send an astronaut into orbit after the late 20th century space race between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The most recent Chang’e 5 spacecraft was assisted by the European Space Agency, as well as Argentina, Namibia and Pakistan, which work with China supervising and communicating with its spacecraft.