Yuegong-1 - China's Moon Base

[Frogbull]

China's first moon base Yuegong-1 (Moon Palace-1) will have 36 square meters of living space. Initial design has been completed by the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Chinese plan to be the first to live on the Moon.

Source: https://www.facebook.com/ChinaSpace

What does the KSP community think about this?

Will it be funded?

If this is the case, when will it start?

[CaptainKipard]

Not sure what to think. It seems far fetched, but China has been making massive strides recently, so who knows?

[Moar Boosters]

I think they should have used a larger lunar-landscape backdrop. That picture is gold for the conspiracy theorists.

[Pulstar]

Well, if anyone has the political will to do it they do. I remain skeptical whether they go through with the plan to build it or not, 7 or 8 years ago building a moon base was also supposedly on the agenda for NASA. It's very ambitious, but more feasible than landing men on Mars or any other currently available "first" in space. Plus they already proven they can land a spacecraft on the Moon. If the Chinese are really running out of prestige-driven megaproject options it's a solid pick and they have the money to spend.

[Nuke]

I think they should have used a larger lunar-landscape backdrop. That picture is gold for the conspiracy theorists.

this looks like a table top model that was photographed at an angle.

[NASAFanboy]

Thank you.

I've emailed the link to my Congressmen along with a internet article talking about possible oil on the Moon. Sit back, relax, and see what happens with NASA's budget. *evil laugh*

Congress: Moon red! Oil moon! Operation Moon Freedom! Gibe moonbase NASA!

[Red Iron Crown]

The way the rovers dock to that station module looks like something straight out of KSP. Same with the dark colored rover with the command seat on it.

I hope China goes through with this. I don't really care which country is making strides as long as strides are being made.

[kiwi1960]

It *will* happen, China has already said it wants to mine the moon, all the resources are there (on the Moon) to not only build an orbital colony around the Moon, but both those things could build the manned ships to get to Mars...

Funnily enough, its cheaper to launch the materials for a Moon base from Earth, but to go further, it would be cheaper to build it on the Moon, less gravity means they can save a ton in fuel costs...

They have found all they need in the moon soil, including Titanium, but NOT as an ore, in the "sand", and using a magnetic process as well as chemical, they can separate what they need...

Yes.... they will be the first, NASA said they would, once, before budget cuts made that impossible.... but that isn't a problem for China, they have more money than they know what to do with it...

[VirtualCLD]

It *will* happen, China has already said it wants to mine the moon, all the resources are there (on the Moon) to not only build an orbital colony around the Moon, but both those things could build the manned ships to get to Mars...

Funnily enough, its cheaper to launch the materials for a Moon base from Earth, but to go further, it would be cheaper to build it on the Moon, less gravity means they can save a ton in fuel costs...

They have found all they need in the moon soil, including Titanium, but NOT as an ore, in the "sand", and using a magnetic process as well as chemical, they can separate what they need...

Yes.... they will be the first, NASA said they would, once, before budget cuts made that impossible.... but that isn't a problem for China, they have more money than they know what to do with it...

I have to question the feasibility of refining resources from the Moon. I'm not questioning the physical ability to do it and I wouldn't be surprised if China does put a base on the Moon first, but it will probably be more for bragging rights. The ability to turn raw resources into useful materials is very doable, but non-trivial, particularly when you are talking about doing that on the Moon. Like you said in your post, it makes a lot more sense to launch all of the materials, pre-fabbed, from Earth and then assemble the structure(s) on the Moon. However, I highly doubt that we'll be seeing a mining/harvesting operation of any kind on the Moon, let alone self-sustaining, in the near future.

[Ralathon]

Well, there's nothing saying a moon base is impossible. But the chinese managed to land a single probe on the surface. Going to a moonbase from there is quite a large leap.

They'd have to develop much larger rockets to get that kind of payload onto the lunar surface etc. Right now this sounds more like future music as opposed to something that they're seriously working on. NASA has had plans for lunar bases, Mars missions and asteroid rendezvouzes for decades now, but we've yet to see them happen.

Kudos for them if they succeed though.

[mellojoe]

Baby steps. China successfully delivers unmanned rovers to the Moon. China successfully delivers manned capsules to the moon. China delivers a long-stay manned capsule to the moon of a small crew. China maintains a long-stay manned capsule on the moon of multiple crews. China successfully delivers resupply mission to extended-stay crews on the moon.

Then, and only then, will we be able to discuss the possibility of manufacturing and development off planet. We have a long way to go to get there. But in a decade a lot can happen depending on how aggressive China wants to be. I haven't seen their interem steps yet, and their initial Rover has some issues to solve. But at least they have started Step 1.

[Wahgineer]

Is it just me, or does this seem like the trigger for the starting gun of space race 2.0? (U.S. vs China?)

[Nibb31]

It's just you.

Just compare:

- The number of prospective Mars and Moon base studies complete with pretty "artist's impression" pictures and scale models.

- The number of actual Mars and Moon bases that have been built.

This is just another paper study. It's business as usual in the space world.

[HeadHunter67]

I'm not sure how China proposes to get all that to the Moon. Consider that it took a Saturn-V rocket just to get the Apollo CSM and LEM to the Moon. 45 metric tons of payload sounds like a lot - but that was just a 3-man command/service module and a 2-man lander. It took a Saturn V to put Skylab in a 430km orbit - imagine what kind of rocket you'd need to put something that small on the Moon!

China does not have any experience at construction in space, so these modules would have to be prefabricated and sent to the Moon already assembled. That further limits the size of what they can send.

[NASAFanboy]

It's just you.

Just compare:

- The number of prospective Mars and Moon base studies complete with pretty "artist's impression" pictures and scale models.

- The number of actual Mars and Moon bases that have been built.

This is just another paper study. It's business as usual in the space world.

Everything was a paper study at one point.

It's a good start.

[Nibb31]

50 years of paper study doesn't make much of a good start.

[jwenting]

Is it just me, or does this seem like the trigger for the starting gun of space race 2.0? (U.S. vs China?)

it's just you. The US has given up on manned access to space. Manned Dragon is a nice theory but none have been ordered AFAIK and none will ever fly once the Soviets kick the US out of the ISS (or it simply gets abandoned because the money is needed to pay off some outstanding loans with the Chinese).

[rkman]

Funnily enough, its cheaper to launch the materials for a Moon base from Earth,

Compared to launching the materials for a Moon base from where?

but to go further, it would be cheaper to build it on the Moon, less gravity means they can save a ton in fuel costs...

I doubt that it will save more fuel than it costs to ship stuff back and forth between Earth and the Moon.

[xenomorph555]

This is all quite feasible, I believe they can do it especially since I heard of this a few hours ago ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2615076/Giant-3D-printer-creates-10-sized-houses-DAY-Bungalows-built-layers-waste-materials-cost-3-000-each.html)

Chinese constructors used 3d printers and construction waste to build 10 houses in a day, combined with the station-esqe modules this looking more real everyday. Go China hopefully the 'muricans don't get involved.

[SargeRho]

it's just you. The US has given up on manned access to space. Manned Dragon is a nice theory but none have been ordered AFAIK and none will ever fly once the Soviets kick the US out of the ISS (or it simply gets abandoned because the money is needed to pay off some outstanding loans with the Chinese).

I beg to differ. The work on the DragonRider is proceeding, and at least one will fly for a LES abort test. DragonRider is also useful for soft-landing stuff. Also the cost per seat on a DR are 16 million less than on a Soyuz.

Edited April 29, 2014 by SargeRho

[Red Iron Crown]

Go China hopefully the 'muricans don't get involved.

Why? If they collaborated with NASA and could tap that well of experience, the whole program would move along more quickly.

[xenomorph555]

Why? If they collaborated with NASA and could tap that well of experience, the whole program would move along more quickly.

Nasa tends to hinders others efforts to stop them advancing while taking the credit, I could not imagine what americans would be like if a international moon base was made "LOL, it was us, you guys suck , Americas better!".

[christok]

Nasa tends to hinders others efforts to stop them advancing while taking the credit,

Are you claiming that NASA will stop something from happening, then take credit for causing the thing that did not happen? Accusing them of deliberate delays wouldn't be fair either. It isn't NASA's fault if their budget gets cancelled most of the time.

[HeadHunter67]

none will ever fly once the Soviets kick the US out of the ISS

How, exactly, do you think they're going to try that? First of all, there are no "Soviets" anymore, and the Russian modules comprise one short arm of the station - not even along the main truss. If they no longer wanted to cooperate, I'm sure they'd be cordially invited to jettison Zarya, Zvezda, and their dependent modules and see how they do on their own.

Does that sound like a likely scenario? Didn't think so. Thankfully, astronauts seem unencumbered by your skewed geo-political views.

[xenomorph555]

How, exactly, do you think they're going to try that? First of all, there are no "Soviets" anymore, and the Russian modules comprise one short arm of the station - not even along the main truss. If they no longer wanted to cooperate, I'm sure they'd be cordially invited to jettison Zarya, Zvezda, and their dependent modules and see how they do on their own.

Does that sound like a likely scenario? Didn't think so. Thankfully, astronauts seem unencumbered by your skewed geo-political views.

You do realise the russian modules contain the stations life support and computers. Who needs an arm anyway when you have the power of RCT and computers.