However, judging from human footprints, apart from the earth, we have only been to the moon so far. Strictly speaking, the moon still belongs to earth-moon system, and our human footprints have never left the earth. It has been more than 50 years since the end of 1960s. During these 50 years, mankind has made earth-shaking breakthroughs in the space field, and plans to return to the moon have been put on the agenda more and more, among which the Artemis plan of the United States is the most famous.
The earliest time of Artemis project can be traced back to 2004. The United States began to implement a complete and brand-new manned space program, with the aim of fully preparing for the official operation of the International Space Station and a series of space activities after the retirement of the large space shuttle. At that time, the design plan also took into account the goal of manned landing on the moon, and made corresponding considerations for building a long-term lunar base and developing lunar resources.
It can be said that the plan to return to the moon at that time was indeed ambitious and far-reaching. Unfortunately, due to insufficient design and budget overruns, the progress of many engineering measures is seriously lagging behind. Finally, the plan had to be castrated, and only the Orion manned spacecraft and the super-heavy launch vehicle of the space launch system were kept, while the manned moon landing plan was temporarily put on hold.
The time was suddenly delayed to 20 17. Taking the opportunity of reorganizing the National Space Commission (whose space activities are under the control of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and NASA), the United States put forward the plan of returning to the moon, put forward the development policy of American space industry in the future, and made clear the contents of accelerating the exploration of Mars and the moon. In 20 19, the United States will return to the moon and be named after Artemis, the goddess of the moon.
Since 2020, the United States has followed its consistent practice in the space field, that is, bringing people into occupation, just like building and operating the International Space Station at that time. Up to now, Canada, Australia, Japan, United Arab Emirates, Britain, South Korea, New Zealand, Brazil and other 1 1 countries, plus the United States, a member of 12 has signed the Artemis agreement. Unsurprisingly, China was once again excluded from this project claiming international cooperation.
According to the established plan, the project will officially launch manned flight test in 2022, send astronauts to the moon in 2024, launch spacecraft the following year, and finally establish a permanent base on the moon. Its long-term goal is to use the technology and experience accumulated in the moon landing stage to pave the way for human beings to land on Mars.
The wish is good, but the reality of the United States returning to the moon is "nine Niu Yi hairs". Recently, the U.S. Congress announced the federal budget for 2022, setting the annual funding of NASA at $24 billion, far below the annual expectation of NASA. This is really a huge blow to NASA's Artemis plan this year.
At the same time, the Chief Inspector General, who specializes in supervising the work and operation of NASA, recently warned NASA that the Al themis project has seriously exceeded the budget, so it is necessary to re-examine the plan and all related work projects will be postponed. In early March, at the meeting of the Science, Space and Technology Committee of the US House of Representatives, the Inspector General also questioned Boeing and other companies that contracted Artemis projects, claiming that these companies provided many benefits to their own companies in the form of contracts, which harmed the interests of NASA.
From the information disclosed above, we can see several signals. The first is the NASA-led return to the moon program, which has been over budget. Judging from the development and launch of the Webb telescope, and even all the official large-scale research and development projects in American society, it can be said that it is very common to exceed the budget. Take the "pigeon king" Webb telescope in the field of astronomical exploration for example, its budget finally exceeded 400%.
The second is the key content of the US plan to return to the moon, which has made slow progress. Take the three core projects of Artemis, namely, the space launch system (SLS rocket), the Orion spacecraft and the ground exploration system, which were actually delayed by three years compared with the original plan, and the cost increased by more than 4 billion US dollars. These three projects are the key parts of returning to the moon. Without them, astronauts can't reach the moon safely and smoothly.
The third is that some American companies involved in the construction seem to have "ulterior motives" in their plans to return to the moon. As the inspector general of the United States said, almost all of them are for their own interests. It is impossible to form a really strong resultant force now.
We don't know how authoritative and effective the inquiry from the inspector general of NASA and the monitoring report submitted to Congress are, but we can all detect a lot of helplessness from what the inspector general said: "The monitoring report is excellent, but it really doesn't seem to have much effect" and "Unless the rocket SLS explodes on the launch pad, the situation is unlikely to change".
In a sense, fortunately, the United States didn't take us with it in the Al-themis program, so that we could spare time and energy and devote ourselves wholeheartedly to our space industry. For landing on the moon, China has the successful experience of Chang 'e series in previous years. According to public information, China is upgrading its lunar exploration project. In the next five years, three lunar exploration projects will be implemented, namely:
In 2024, Chang 'e VII was launched to conduct a scientific investigation on the South Pole of the Moon.
After the launch of Chang 'e VII in 2024, Chang 'e VI was launched immediately and returned from the south pole of the moon.
In 2030, we will launch the Chang 'e-8 mission, carry out manned moon landing experiments at the lunar research station, adhere to the principle of open cooperation, and build a lunar base with countries with strong will, excellent technology and "no selfishness". At present, the preliminary work is jointly carried out by China and Russia, and more countries and regions will participate in the follow-up.
When the implementation of the American plan to return to the moon was blocked, our manned moon landing project was proceeding in an orderly manner according to the established plan. "It's a mess outside, and the scenery here is unique!"