The video from the Chinese National Space Administration extensively describes the large lunar outpost, interestingly featuring CGI of a NASA space shuttle taking off from the surface of the Moon.
The project is known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and was first presented as a joint development between China and Russia. According to SpaceNews, Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand, and Nicaragua have now joined the initiative.
The demonstration video of ILRS, presented last week, shows a series of missions — including sample return missions, landing modules, lunar rovers, and auxiliary orbital satellites — corresponding to the planned "Chang'e-6" and "Chang'e-7" missions, to be launched next month and in 2027 respectively. Together with "Chang'e-8", they will form the basic ILRS model by around 2028. Further plans will involve communications, power generation, and other infrastructure to be built and developed at the large lunar outpost.
Wu Weiren, the chief developer of China's lunar exploration program, says that ILRS will be built in two stages: by 2035, comprehensive scientific facilities with basic functions and key support elements will be established around the lunar South Pole in the first stage, and by 2045, a well-equipped and stable "substantial scale" facility will be created in the second stage.
Interestingly, in the background of the Chinese base demonstration, an old NASA shuttle is shown lifting off from the launch pad. The spacecraft was retired in 2011, and the American space agency is mostly prohibited from cooperating with Chinese organizations. Moreover, NASA has its own lunar program "Artemis."
Later, the Chinese news channel CGTN resolved the issue with the American shuttle in the video. How? Using the good old "blur".
Boom problem solved. CGTN went ahead and slapped an ol' reliable blur bar over the Shuttle https://t.co/GltGw0c17xpic.twitter.com/bkuBT86YaN
— Jack Kuhr 👨🚀 (@JackKuhr) April 25, 2024
Source: Space.com
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