Russian Media: A Thorny Path to the Moon: How China Is Surpassing the United States in Its Lunar Exploration Program

China and the United States are the two major countries secretly engaged in a lunar exploration competition. The United States is currently advancing its "Artemis" program, while China is implementing its "Chang'e" project.

Although many believe the "Artemis" program is more ambitious in scale, experts suggest that China is likely to surpass the United States in achieving its own lunar exploration goals.

Key Components of the China-U.S. Lunar Exploration Programs

China aims to achieve crewed lunar landing before 2030. At that time, the "Long March 10" launch vehicle will send the "Lanyue" lander and the "Mengzhou" crewed spacecraft into lunar orbit; afterward, the two will dock, and astronauts will transfer into the lander, which will then descend to the lunar surface.

The United States plans to use either the Space Launch System (SLS) or SpaceX’s "Starship" launch vehicle, the "Orion" crewed spacecraft, and either Blue Origin’s "Blue Moon" lander or SpaceX’s "Starship HLS" lander.

Challenges Facing the United States

One of the challenges facing the United States is political division, constant introduction of new initiatives by successive administrations, and heavy reliance on commercial companies during the implementation of its lunar exploration program.

For example, President George W. Bush strongly advocated the "Constellation" lunar exploration program. However, Barack Obama later canceled it, proposing instead to send astronauts to an asteroid to gather data for future Mars missions. During his first term, Donald Trump expressed support for NASA’s "Artemis" program based on the SLS rocket.

The "Artemis" program was announced in 2017, initially aiming to land American astronauts on the Moon by 2024. This goal was later postponed to 2027. Currently, the U.S. plans to achieve crewed lunar landing around 2028.

The "Artemis" program faces several challenges:

  • Key technology for refueling the "Starship" launch vehicle in low Earth orbit has not been sufficiently tested;
  • Necessity to enhance the power of the SLS rocket, which is behind schedule in development;
  • Development and testing progress for both the "Blue Moon" and "Starship HLS" landers are lagging behind schedule;
  • Contractors have failed to complete tasks on time due to insufficient funding;
  • Software issues;
  • Delays in the development of spacesuits required for astronauts.

Keys to China’s Lunar Exploration Success

Experts point out that China is better prepared for crewed lunar landing by 2030 because it has already successfully tested the three core components of its lunar exploration program: launch vehicles, crewed spacecraft, and landers.

Advantages of China’s Lunar Exploration Program over the United States

  • According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, research and testing of the "Long March 10" launch vehicle, "Mengzhou" crewed spacecraft, "Lanyue" lander, and "Wangyu" lunar spacesuit are progressing as planned;
  • The program is characterized by continuity and strict execution;
  • It enjoys stable government funding support;
  • It leverages the cumulative effects of research outcomes from various Chinese scientific institutions to achieve shared goals;
  • Crewed lunar landing technology is simpler—using two "Long March 10" rockets to separately launch the "Lanyue" lander and "Mengzhou" crewed spacecraft, followed by docking in lunar orbit—eliminating the need for fuel refueling in low Earth orbit, unlike "Starship";
  • Closer cooperation with Russia, which helps build a power station at the lunar base for an international scientific station;
  • China is the only country to have achieved a soft landing on the far side of the Moon.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1861759247280139/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone.