China is considering constructing a nuclear power plant on the Moon to supply energy for the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which it is developing in collaboration with Russia, a presentation by a senior official showed on Wednesday.
By 2030, China hopes to establish itself as a major space power and send humans to the moon. The Chang'e-8 mission is designed to set the stage for the establishment of a permanent manned lunar base, reports Reuters.
Pei Zhaoyu, the 2028 mission's principal engineer, demonstrated in a presentation in Shanghai that the lunar base's energy supply might also rely on massive solar arrays as well as pipelines and cables for electricity and heating that are constructed on the Moon's surface.
In order to power the ILRS, the Russian space agency Roscosmos stated last year that it would work with the China National Space Administration to construct a nuclear reactor on the Moon's surface by 2035.
Despite never having made a formal announcement, Beijing appears to embrace the proposal, as evidenced by the inclusion of the nuclear power unit in a Chinese space official's presentation to officials from the 17 nations and international organizations that comprise the ILRS.
NASA's more ambitious and sophisticated Artemis mission, which seeks to return US men to the lunar surface in December 2025, aligns with China's timeline to establish an outpost on the Moon's south pole.
A "basic model" of the ILRS, with the Moon's south pole at its center, will be constructed by 2035, according to a statement made last year by Wu Weiren, lead designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Project and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The construction stage of Wu's "basic model" includes the Chang'e lunar probe launches.
China plans to establish the 555 Project in the future, inviting 5,000 researchers from abroad, 500 international scientific research organizations, and 50 countries to join the ILRS.
