China to mine the moon

As part of ongoing efforts to expand its space program, the Chinese government has revealed plans to establish a mining base on the moon.

As part of ongoing efforts to expand its space program, the Chinese government has revealed plans to establish a mining base on the moon.

According to this article, the moon base is part of a 'three step plan' China's space program will follow. The first of these steps is to successfully conduct a manned space flight. Currently, China has successfully completed three unmanned flights.

The second step calls for the establishment of a space laboratory, similar to the US's ill-fated Skylab. Hopefully China's lab doesn't suffer the same fate as Skylab, which put on a stunning visual display when it burned up during re-entry in July 1979.

The third and final step for China's space program is the moon base. According to The Beijing Morning Post, the overall goal of putting a base on the moon is to 'mine its riches for the benefit of humanity '.

China's moon mining plan is perhaps one of the best things that could have happened as far as space exploration is concerned. The world's primary space organisation, NASA, is constantly having its budget chipped away by the US government. Hopefully, China's future successes in space missions will force the US, and other countries, back into research and development of technologies needed for space flight and colonization such as nuclear propulsion, terraforming and techniques for mining resources on off-earth locations such as the moon and asteroid belts.

Current speculation by Chinese engineers puts a first manned space flight by Chinese astronauts at around 2005.