Dragon in Space - China's space program past and present

Manned Lunar Landing

Although the Chinese government has yet officially committed itself to such a programme, manned lunar landing remains a long-term objective of the Chinese space programme in the 21st century. There have been speculations about a three-step strategy in China's lunar exploration programme, of which the current robotic lunar probe programme (Chang’e Project) is only the first step. Next China will attempt to land astronauts on the Moon by 2025, followed by a lunar base by 2030.

Policy Development

Chinese scientists began to discuss the possibility of a manned lunar landing mission as early as 2000. At Expo 2000 in Hanover, China displayed a model showing two Chinese astronauts planting the national flag of the People’s Republic of China on the lunar surface.

In 2009, the China Academy of Science (CAS) published a report titled “Space Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050”, which suggested that China would send human to the Moon by 2030, build a temporarily man-tended lunar base by 2040, and send human to Mars by 2050. The roadmap was part of a report titled "Creation 2050: Science, technology and China's Future", a long-term strategy for the country's scientific and technological development.

Guo Huadong, leader of a CAS space technology strategy research team, said the roadmap is "not an official government plan, but more of a strategic recommendation to policymakers." He emphasised that the Chinese Government had not announced any plan or timetable for sending astronauts to the Moon or building a lunar base.

During a speech in 2009, Yu Dengyun, the Vice Chief Designer of the China Lunar Exploration Programme (CLEP), revealed that a manned lunar programme involving manned lunar landing and temporarily man-tended lunar base was being evaluated, though no official plan for such a programme had been decided.

Yu also revealed that China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC) was developing two concepts for a launch vehicle and manned lunar craft. The first concept would use a newly-developed Saturn-class heavy-lift launch vehicle to send modules of the lunar landing spacecraft directly to the lunar orbit, where the spacecraft would be assembled through a single rendezvous docking operation. The second concept would require multiple launches using existing launch vehicles such as the Changzheng 5, with multiple rendezvous docking operations in the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and a single rendezvous docking operation on the lunar orbit to assemble the landing spacecraft.

In its five-yearly white paper “China’s Space Activities in 2011” published in January 2012, the Chinese government confirmed that it was conducting preliminary studies on manned lunar landing. This was the first time that an official government document explicitly listed manned lunar landing as a policy objective.

In a paper published in June 2010, Long Lehao, China’s top rocket scientist and the chief designer of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), outlined a detailed plan for China’s human lunar landing programme.

Long argued that crewed missions to extraterrestrial destinations were primary objectives of all major space powers in the world in the 21st century. Therefore China should also develop plans to send its astronauts to the Moon, and then to Mars. He outlined a two-step strategy in achieving China’s manned lunar landing mission.

To achieve a manned lunar landing mission by 2025, using existing technologies and infrastructure. The mission will aim for landing 2~3 astronauts on the Moon for short-term stay and then safe return to the Earth.
To achieve longer-duration manned lunar missions between 2030~2040, using a new heavy-lift launch vehicle. The mission will see 4~6 astronauts landing on the Moon and building a temporarily man-tended lunar base.

Mission Profile

Apollo-Style Lunar Landing Mission

For a Apollo-style, short-term manned lunar landing mission, Long outlined a concept of using the existing Changzheng 5 (CZ-5) launch vehicles to send a 30 metric tons manned crew vehicle to the Moon. The concept would use three CZ-5 launches to ferry the crew and component parts of spacecraft into earth orbit, where a lunar landing vehicle will be assembled.

Long’s concept consists of the following components:

Lunar Landing Vehicle: The 30 metric tons lunar landing vehicle will consist of a Shenzhou-derived Crew Vehicle (CV) at front, a 17t-mass Lunar Module (LM) in the middle, and a Retrofire Stage (RS) at rear.
Trans-Lunar Injection Stage (TLIS): This is a rocket stage powered by LOX/LH2 liquid engines, each with a total vacuum thrust of 100t. Two stages will be required to place the Shenzhou crew vehicle into the Lunar Transfer Orbit (LTO).

Shenzhou Lunar Lander Concept: The Shenzhou-derived lunar landing vehicle with a Lunar Module (LM) attached. The 30-tonne vehicle will be able to send 3 astronauts to the Moon.

According to Long’s concept, a lunar landing mission would take 15 days, and require two earth orbit rendezvous and a lunar orbit rendezvous.

Day 1: A CZ-5DY rocket, launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre (WSLC), would send the first LOX/LH2 liquid trans-lunar injection stage (TLIS) to LEO.
Day 2: A second CZ-5DY rocket, also launched from WSLC, would send the second TLIS to LEO, where it is docked with the first stage.
Day 5: A third CZ-5DY rocket would send the Lunar Landing Vehicle (LLV) along with its crew to LEO. The vehicle will then be docked with the two TLIS stages to form the lunar-landing assembly.
Day 6: After initial tests, the lunar-landing assembly will fire its booster stages to enter the Lunar Transfer Orbit. Once the spacecraft has entered the transfer orbit, the two booster stages will be jettisoned.
Day 9: Upon arriving at the lunar orbit, the Crew Vehicle will make a 180° turn and then fire the RS to slow down to enter the lunar orbit. The RS is then jettisoned.
Day 10: The crew then enters the LM, which is then undocked with the Crew Vehicle to land on the Moon.
Day 12: Once completing the landing mission, the crew will return to the lunar orbit in the ascent module of the LM, and then dock with the Crew Vehicle waiting in the orbit. Once the crew has returned inside the vehicle, the remaining LM is then jettisoned. The Crew Vehicle will then fire its engine to leave the lunar orbit and enter the lunar transfer orbit.
Day 15: The Crew Vehicle returns to the earth orbit, where the OM and SM is jettisoned. The crew then returns to the Earth in the Descent Module capsule.

If the crew is to be launched separately from the crew vehicle onboard the Changzheng 7 (CZ-7) rocket, the mission will require a further earth orbit rendezvous (EOR) and extra 7 days mission time

Lunar Base Mission

A longer-term lunar base mission in Long’s concept will require a direct ascent method, using a newly developed heavy-lift launch vehicle with a payload capacity of 130t to LEO. The launch vehicle will be able to send the crew vehicle directly to the lunar orbit, without requiring earth orbit rendezvous (EOR). Alternatively, for better safety the crew can be launched by a separate CZ-5 launch vehicle and then docked with the lunar crew vehicle through a single EOR before travelling to the Moon.

Last updated: 20 January 2012