By Staff Reporters

The pursuit of China's space dreams is perpetual, and exploration of the final frontier knows no limit. During the 14th Five-Year Plan (FYP) period (2021-2025), China has made remarkable achievements in this quest, including manned spaceflight, lunar and deep space exploration, and space science.

Manned space station

From manned spaceflights to the Tiangong space station, China's manned space program reached new heights on successive missions.

On April 29, 2021, the Tianhe core module was successfully launched, kicking off a series of key launch missions that aimed to complete the construction of the station by the end of 2022. In less than 20 months, China's manned space program had successfully launched three space station modules, four manned spacecraft and four cargo spacecraft.

In addition to the in-orbit assembly of its basic configuration, China's space station also achieved domestic production of all products and raw materials, and independent control of all key core components. Successful innovation projects connected to the space station were also achieved, such as a regenerative life support system, astronaut extravehicular suits, extravehicular robotic arms and flexible solar wings.

To date, China's space station has accommodated nine mission crews, and various space application experiments are proceeding. Subsequently, China will develop and launch the expansion module to continuously enhance the capabilities of the space station.

Lunar exploration

The Chang'e-6 probe was launched on May 3, 2024. On June 25, its returner landed in north China, bringing back 1,935.3 grams of sample soil from the far side of the moon — the first endeavor of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration.

To fulfill this mission, China has made technological breakthroughs in the design and control of the lunar retrograde orbit, intelligent and rapid sample collection, as well as take-off and ascent from the far side of the moon. As for the significance of innovation, Deng Xiangjin from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has a profound understanding.  

He said that, "During the development of the sampling and packaging system, we made breakthroughs in fundamental technologies including new materials and components, therefore our steps have become more solid and determined."

China is accelerating the Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions, said Shan Zhongde, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA). While advancing high-quality cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative, the country is actively promoting the construction of an international lunar research station.

Deep-space exploration

China's exploration of the universe is not just confined to the moon and it is forging ahead in to deeper space.

On May 15, 2021, the Tianwen-1 probe landed on Mars, following the Zhurong rover a week later. In November of the same year, the Tianwen-1 orbiter successfully entered the remote sensing orbit and conducted a global remote sensing survey of Mars. China became the first country to achieve the three major goals of Mars orbiting, landing and roving in a single mission.

On May 29 this year, China launched its first asteroid sample-return mission, Tianwen-2, to achieve multiple goals over a decade-long expedition: collecting samples from the near-Earth asteroid 2016HO3 and exploring the main-belt comet 311P, which is more distant than Mars.

The CNSA will steadily advance deep space exploration missions such as the Tianwen-3 Mars sample-return mission and the Tianwen-4 Jupiter exploration mission, and will continue the solar exploration project based on the success of Xihe solar exploration satellite. In addition, China plans to build space infrastructure for civil use and develop satellite Internet systems.