Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar probe program. Photo: Deng Xiaoci/GT

Chinese scientists are conducting scientific feasibility studies on sending the country's astronauts to the moon, China's lunar probe program chief designer Wu Weiren told the Global Times on Monday. 

"Sending Chinese people to the moon won't be too much of a problem," Wu, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at a press conference ahead of the 4th International Conference on Lunar and Deep Space Exploration held in Zhuhai, South China's Guangdong Province, on Monday.

Wu declined to reveal a detailed schedule for a manned mission to the moon. 

The conference is jointly sponsored by China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and organized by CNSA Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and CAS General Office and Lunar and Deep Space Exploration. 

At the press conference, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center with the CNSA, who is also the deputy chief designer of the country's third-phase mission of lunar exploration program, said that "China's future lunar exploration, including Chang'e-6 and those following it, will be determined by the country's own technology capability and overall economic strength."

"China will not race against other countries, but will follow its own schedule," Pei said answering the Global Times inquiry how the acceleration of the US plan to return people to the moon could impact China's lunar exploration schedule.

US Vice President Mike Pence made a statement in March saying that NASA was directed to return American astronauts to the lunar surface within the next five years "by any means necessary." 

The sudden acceleration of the US returning to the moon showed that the US side was feeling the pressure posed by Chinese space advancements in moon exploration, Chinese analysts concluded.

Another reason should be the moon's position as a strategic bridgehead for future deeper space exploration, according to experts. 

China still has unmanned Chang'e-5, -6, -7, -8 missions coming up until 2030, Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the CNSA said in January.

Chang'e-5 will return samples from the moon in a mission scheduled around 2020, Wu told the Global Times.

He also said that Chang'e-6 will conduct a similar mission, but with samples from the south pole of the moon. 

Whether the Chang'e-6 probe will also land on the far side will depend on the Chang'e-5 sample. 

Chang'e-7 will comprehensively explore the moon, whereas Chang'e-8 will explore the possibility of building an international lunar research base, the CNSA deputy head said.

Chang'e-8 will test 3D printer technology in hopes of assisting future lunar residents.

"The landing location and research goals for Chang'e-6 will be later determined, after taking the performance of Chang'e-5 into consideration," Pei said on Monday.


Newspaper headline: Scientists eye Chinese on the moon