China has unveiled a moon landing concept that hopes to send astronauts to the moon by the end of the decade. On February 24, a model of China’s lunar lander was presented at an exhibition dedicated to the thirtieth anniversary of China’s manned spaceflight program at the National Museum of China in Beijing. The model shows that China is working on a different phased landing concept from the Apollo landings. The propulsion stage will be used for most of the landing before it completes the lander descent and soft landing on the lunar surface.

The propulsion stage will be designed to perform a separate hard landing, but will be necessary to reduce the potential hazard of debris. The lander will also act as a lifter to return the crew to lunar orbit and dock with the crew’s waiting spacecraft. Details on the model show the engines, rover, docking mechanisms, crew hatch, and landing ramp for the astronauts, antennas, and other equipment.

The lander is part of a plan to land two astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030, according to plans previously announced by the Chinese space agency. Meanwhile, work continues on other key elements.

“We’ve made breakthroughs in key technologies for the next-generation launch vehicle, next-generation crewed spacecraft, lunar lander and lunar landing gear,” said Ji Qiming, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency. (CMSEO) told CCTV on Feb.

China is working on a next-generation launch vehicle to launch a next-generation spaceship crew. In 2020, a typical test mission is planned for the latter. Partially reusable, it will be larger and more powerful than China’s current Shenzhou manned spacecraft. The new launch vehicle will be available in low Earth orbit and triple-core lunar configurations. Its developer, CASC, plans to conduct a test flight of the LEO version in 2027. According to the information presented at the exhibition along with the model, the launcher was also called the Long March 10.

“A plan to achieve a lunar landing with Chinese characteristics has been established. This year, we will complete our research and construction tasks for the Moon landing phase as planned.”

The first landing mission includes a short stay of several hours. However, the possibility of landing a crew on the moon is part of a larger plan for permanent residence on the moon.

“We will also conduct a series of preliminary studies on the long stay of astronauts on the Moon’s surface and the development and exploitation of lunar resources to lay the technical basis for future lunar exploration missions. Chinese people,” Ji said.

In 2021, China officially announced plans to build the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which will be built in the 2030s. First it will be robotic, then it will be livable with the team. The key partner of the ILRS project is Russia. But China didn’t mention Russia when presenting its plans for the moon at a major international space conference last fall. Due to the invasion of Ukraine, Russia is threatened with isolation from the international community. Last year, China said it shelved plans for the Long March 9 single-use superheavy rocket for the Moon and other space infrastructure and replaced it with a reusable version. The test flight is likely to be delayed until the 2030s, which will affect the ILRS program.

China’s plan to land a crew on the moon has not been officially approved by the Chinese government, but this is likely because the timeline is beyond the current national five-year plan. In January 2022, the space report said that China would “continue to study and research a human lunar landing plan … and explore key technologies to lay the foundation for exploration and development of lunar space.”