A Chinese official on Thursday revealed future plans for more lunar missions to eventually establish a lunar base and house human explorers.
The announcement by deputy chief commander of the China Lunar Exploration Program, Wu Yanhua, comes after the successful landing of China’s Chang’e 5 probe on Earth on Wednesday after it collected nearly 2 pounds of moon rock samples, the Associated Press reported.
Wu had no concrete dates for a manned mission to the moon or for the construction of a base, although it noted plans are in the works for future probe missions with Chang’e 6, 7 and 8.
In addition, Wu announced future explorations to collect samples from Mars, asteroids and possible trips to the planet Jupiter.
“China is ready to continue to contribute to the world and improve human well-being with Chinese space solutions,” Wu said.
The last voyage from land to the moon marked many firsts for the China National Space Administration (CNSA), including the collection of rock samples younger than the species previously collected by Americans and the Soviet Union from 1969 to 1972. In addition, the mission launched a lunar vehicle. on the lunar surface used for transferring the rock samples.
“Chang’e 5, our country’s most complex and technically groundbreaking space mission, has achieved multiple technical breakthroughs … and represents a milestone,” CNSA said in a statement.
China became the third country to send an astronaut into orbit in 2003 after the late 20th-century space race between the Soviet Union and the United States.
The most recent Chang’e 5 probe was assisted by the European Space Agency, as well as Argentina, Namibia and Pakistan, who are working with China to track and communicate with its spaceship.