China wants to use lunar soil to build bases on the Moon – 04/12/2023 – Science

China wants to start building a lunar base using soil from the natural satellite in five years, Chinese media reported, with the ambitious plan starting later this decade.

More than 100 Chinese space scientists, researchers and engineers recently gathered at a conference in the central Chinese city of Wuhan to discuss ways to build infrastructure on the moon, local media reported.

Ding Lieyun, an expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said a team is designing a robot called Chinese Super Masons to make bricks from lunar soil, according to Changjiang Daily.

“Building a habitat on the Moon is necessary for long-term lunar exploration and will certainly be undertaken in the future,” Ding said, while acknowledging the difficulty of achieving it in the short term, according to the report.

The robot tasked with making the “lunar soil brick” will be launched during China’s Chang’e-8 mission around 2028, Ding said, adding that the country aims to retrieve the world’s first soil sample from the far side of the moon. on a mission around 2025.

China had previously retrieved soil samples from the moon’s near side with its Chang’e-5 mission in 2020, state media reported.

The country has stated that it wants its astronauts to remain on the natural satellite for long periods, once it establishes a lunar research station.

Ding and dozens of experts attended the Extraterrestrial Construction Conference held at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan this past weekend.