China moon greenhouse research planned to support long-term lunar exploration

BEIJING: A Chinese lunar exploration team is planning to conduct research on a greenhouse located on the lunar surface, as announced by Wang Qiong, a senior space engineer with the China National Space Administration (CNSA), during a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

By utilizing advanced lunar surface construction technologies, the team aims to build a greenhouse that will help rovers and robots on the moon better withstand the harsh conditions of the lunar night, which lasts for 14 days and sees temperatures drop to minus 200 degrees Celsius.

Wang believes that as lunar exploration progresses toward long-term stays on the moon, having a greenhouse on the lunar surface will be highly beneficial.

According to Wang, also the deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission, by studying the samples returned by Chang’e-6, Chinese scientists have made a series of significant scientific breakthroughs, revealing, for the first time, the evolutionary history of the lunar far side.

On June 25, 2024, the Chang’e-6 probe successfully landed in northern China, bringing back 1,935.3 grams of samples from the moon’s far side, marking a historic first for humanity.

“We have also carried out fruitful international cooperation,” he said, adding that the Chang’e-6 mission carried a CubeSat of Pakistan and three scientific payloads from France, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Italy, all of which have achieved exploration results surpassing expectations.