CHINA’S master plan for the Moon includes fleets of autonomous robots, habitation domes and eventually city-like infrastructure.
In a video depicting Beijing’s grand ideas, issued by China’s national space agency, viewers have spotted a potential blunder.
The clip features a shot where a Nasa Space Shuttle rocket is taking off in the background.
Nasa’s Space Shuttle programme closed for business in August 2011, after four decades in the air, amid budget pressures.
We are no longer satisfied with simple visits, we are here for long-term exploration.
China National Space Administration
The China Global Television Network has blurred the space shuttle from view in one version of the video, according to The Verge.
But that hasn’t stopped onlookers from spotting the ‘error’.
“Interesting to see a very ambitious vision of China’s ILRS Moon base by 2045, but amazing to see a retired Space Shuttle lifting off in the background,” one eagle-eyed onlooker wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
‘Long-term exploration’
China’s space city located on the lunar south pole will “support humankind” in travelling to “deeper space,” according to the nation’s space agency.
In translated captions, the space agency writes in the video: “We are no longer satisfied with simple visits, we are here for long-term exploration.
“The International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) makes this vision possible.
“It will support long-term autonomous operation and short-term manned participation.”
It’s understood space agencies will need to use the Moon as a refuelling base to fly to Mars and beyond.
By 2035, a basic model of ILRS will be built to house lunar scientific experiments, according to the video.
Here, astronauts will use local resources, like lunar regolith, to expand the base.
A decade later, in 2045, China aims to have a city-like base, in what it calls an “extended model” of the basic ILRS.
The base will be co-constructed by international partners, according to the China National Space Administration.
So far, the ILRS has nine country members, including China, Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa, Egypt and Thailand.
Turkey and most recently Nicaragua have also reportedly applied to join.
As things stand today, China is aiming to start work on its Disneyland-sized International Lunar Research Base (ILRS) no earlier than 2028.
Beijing is adamant that its intentions for ILRS are to collect samples and carry out “scientific exploration”.
Although Nasa boss Bill Nelson believes China may actually be plotting to claim the Moon as its own territory.
US vs China space race
By Millie Turner, Technology & Science Reporter
The ongoing chest pounding between the US and China has sparked a Renaissance for the space race of the 60s.
And Nasa boss Bill Nelson hasn’t shied away from calling it a “race”, either.
Both nations are taking their Earth-bound tech war – where the pair are currently caught fist shaking over computer chips, AI and TikTok – to the stars.
While China was late to the first round of the space race, Beijing is investing heavily in becoming the second nation to put humans on the Moon by 2030.
Under President Xi Jinping’s leadership, China spent roughly $14billion (11.2billion) on its ambitious space programme in 2023, according to Statista.
Washington and Beijing currently have the most developed plans for securing separate permanent bases on the Moon, out of any other country in the world.
But the White House and Nasa are gunning to be the first ones there.
In January, Nelson said he believed the “race” was over for China, and that the US was heading towards its home straight.
Nelson has been outspoken of his fears should China pit them to the post.
China’s military presence in the South China Sea signals how the country might behave on the lunar surface, Nelson claimed, which would breach the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.
Why the lunar south pole?
The lunar south pole has been a site of interest to all space-faring nations, including India, Russia, China and the US.
Last year, India made history by becoming the first country to land near the southern site.
Just days before, Russia also made an attempt at a south pole touchdown, which ended in a crash landing.
Nasa’s Artemis III mission is intended to explore a region near the lunar south pole.
The Artemis III mission forms parts of a decade-long programme that is hoped to culminate with a permanent lunar base by the end of the decade.
The south pole is, scientists believe, the most promising location for water-based ice, which will be key to future human habitation on the Moon.
But the abundance of precious lunar materials that winners of the space race will have near-sole access to may also be fuelling the chase, experts say.
The south polar region is one of the Moon’s most resource-dense areas.
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