China has taken a step forward in its ambitious plan to land its astronauts on the moon by 2030
The country presented a custom-made space suit that the crew will wear during the mission. It is expected to be a landmark for China's space program, CNN reported, quoted by NOVA.
The new red and white suit unveiled by the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) over the weekend is designed to withstand the moon's extreme temperatures, as well as radiation and dust. At the same time, it allows astronauts the physical flexibility to perform tasks on the lunar surface, state media reported.
The lunar landing suit is equipped with a built-in camera for long and short distances, an operating console and an anti-glare helmet visor. In a video shared by state broadcaster CCTV, famous Chinese astronauts Jai Zhigang and Wang Yaping demonstrate how astronauts wearing the suit can bend down and climb stairs.
The new technology has attracted the attention of the international community.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk shared the video on his social network X with his own caption.
„At the same time in America [the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)] is suffocating the national space program in Kafkaesque red tape!”, he wrote in an apparent reference to the alleged speed with which China has developed its space program compared to the US .
The state of SpaceX – and Musk's personal wealth – have grown in recent years thanks to huge government contracts as NASA tries to attract the private sector for space exploration and logistics.
The unveiling of China's moon landing suit comes at a time when the country is making significant efforts to establish itself as a major player in space. This is an area that countries, including the US, are increasingly pursuing, not only for scientific purposes, but also for resource and national security reasons.
In recent years, the China National Space Administration has conducted a series of increasingly sophisticated robotic lunar missions, including the first-ever return of lunar probes from the far side of the moon earlier this year. China is aiming to become the second country to land astronauts on the moon, saying its first manned mission will take place “by 2030”.
The United States, which has not sent astronauts to the moon since 1972, also plans to send a crew this decade, although it has pushed back its original schedule for the Artemis III mission. Earlier this year, NASA said that mission would not take place until at least September 2026. The agency unveiled a prototype of its Artemis III spacesuit, the AxEMU, in 2023.
China's new spacesuit was hailed in state media as a major step forward in the country's manned mission schedule. Experts noted the need for a specially designed suit for lunar conditions compared to those used during spacewalks by astronauts on the Chinese orbital space station “Tiangun”.
Thanks to its thin exosphere, the Moon is a harsh place, exposed to both the sun's rays and the cold of space. According to NASA, temperatures near the moon's equator can reach 121°C during the day and drop to -133°C at night.
„Unlike low Earth orbit missions, astronauts will be in a harsh natural lunar environment during lunar extraterrestrial activities. Complex environmental factors, such as high vacuum and low gravity, lunar dust and lunar soil, complex lunar surface relief, high and low temperatures and strong radiation, will have a significant impact on performance and protection, said Zhiqian, deputy chief designer. of astronaut systems at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
Others also applauded the suit's aesthetic. State media said the red stripes on the upper limbs were inspired by the stripes of the “flying apsaris” or deities that appear in ancient art in the western Chinese city of Dunhuang, and those of the lower ones look like “missile-launching flames”.
Another designer, Wang Chunhui, said the suit's proportions would make the astronauts “more spiritual and majestic” and “they will make us Chinese look strong and beautiful when we step on the moon”.
Earlier this year, Chinese officials announced the names of the spacecraft for the manned lunar mission. The spacecraft was named Mengzhou or “Ship of Dreams” and the lander – Lanyue or “Embracing the Moon“.
The mission is conceived as part of a broader set of lunar ambitions that include China's plans to establish an international lunar research station at the moon's south pole by 2040.