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Stephen Chen

A senior government space scientist said China was considering mounting a mission to “capture” an asteroid and try to fire it into the moon’s orbit within a decade, state media reported.
The ultimate aim would be to mine the asteroid for metal and minerals, or use it as the base for a space station.
Ye Peijian, chief commander and designer of China’s lunar exploration programme, said at a meeting of space authorities in Beijing this week that the nation’s first batch of asteroid exploration spacecraft would probably be launched in about 2020, according to state media reports.
NASA says space mining can solve climate change, food security and other Earthly issues
Asteroids roam throughout our solar system, ranging in size from a metre to hundreds of kilometres across. Some cross close to Earth’s orbit, sometimes dangerously so.
Many near-Earth asteroids contain a high concentrations of precious metals, Ye told the Science and Technology Daily, a newspaper run by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology.

He estimated some of the asteroids might justify the enormous cost and risk of space exploration as their economic value could amount to trillions of US dollars.
Nasa announced a plan earlier this year to send two spacecraft to asteroids in 2021 and 2023.
The later mission will explore the asteroid 16 Psyche, which is 210km wide and probably a remnant from the core of an ancient planet no longer in existence.
The Chinese programme, however, is much more ambitious.
The plan is to capture an asteroid by landing and anchor a spacecraft on its surface, fire up multiple rocket boosters and project it into the orbit of the moon.
An asteroid like a 10-storey building just missed Earth by only half the distance to the Moon. We barely saw it coming
The excavation of mineral ores and its transportation to Earth would be carried out by robotic machinery, Ye was quoted as saying.
Ye estimated it could take a further four decades before China had the technology and infrastructure in place to mine the asteroid.
No details were given of which asteroid Chinese space scientists may be targeting.
China is also interested in using an asteroid as the base for a permanent space station, the report said. Ye was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the Chinese government was mulling this separate proposal to build a self-sustainable base on an asteroid.
The natural spin of an asteroid could generate a certain amount of centrifugal force that could be transformed into gravity, which was good for the mobility and general health of astronauts, he said.

A team of space scientists from the California Institute of Technology came up with a similar proposal in 2013 and submitted it to the White House under the former Obama administration.
China re-activated an air-tight research facility in Beijing on Wednesday and began a new experiment with artificial ecological system to pave the way for the design and construction of human settlement on the moon.
Four young men and women volunteers entered Lunar Palace 1 – a self-contained laboratory in Beihang University with a bio-regenerative life support system built four years ago – to join a year-long mission to evaluate the system’s performance after new upgrades, in particular its reliability and flexibility to cope with various accidents.
Chinese space technology still lags decades behind the US, but the Chinese government has poured enormous resources into the development of its space programme, including developing an orbiting space station. Analysts say the clear aim is to challenge US supremacy in space.
The first landing of a probe on an asteroid was conducted in 2001 by the US spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker.
Chinese scientists study viability of manned radar station on the moon
The European spacecraft Rosetta put a fully-functioning landing probe on an asteroid in 2014, which sent back data for two days until its power supply ran out.
The Chinese lunar probe Chang’e-2 conducted a fly-by in 2012 over 4179 Toutatis, the largest asteroid known to pose a collision threat with Earth.
Huang Jiangchuan, the chief scientist at China’s deep space exploration programme, said at the same meeting attended by Ye on Monday that the nation’s asteroid mission would aim high for “landmark achievements”, state media reported.
But some space researchers have cautioned that the mission faced huge challenges, including developing technology to firmly anchor the probe to the surface of the asteroid.


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China plans ambitious space mission to hunt and ‘capture’ asteroids by 2020

A conceptual image of Nasa’s Orion spacecraft approaching a robotic asteroid capture vehicle. Image: Nasa

This conceptual image shows NASA’s Orion spacecraft approaching the robotic asteroid capture vehicle. The trip from Earth to the captured asteroid will take Orion and its two-person crew an estimated nine days. Image Credit: NASA

epa05917216 A 'Long March CZ-7' rocket carrying the cargo spacecraft 'Tianzhou-1', China's first cargo spacecraft, at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Wenchang, south China's Hainan province, 20 April 2017. The cargo ship is developed by the China Academy of Space Technology with a length of 10.6 meters and a diameter of 3.35 meters and a lift-off mass is about 13 tons. EPA/WU HONG

A new SpaceX? China developing system to recover, reuse space rockets

A file picture of the launch of China’s Shenzhou 9 spacecraft five years ago. Photo: AP

(ROCKET17) China's rocket recovery program with parachute-airbag technology - A first stage rocket recovery experiment by Calt in 2015 UNDATE. PICTURE : HANDOUT

China tests lunar base simulator ahead of missions to moon

Four volunteers take an oath before starting their stay in the Lunar Palace 1. Photo: Xinhua

FILE PHOTO: Volunteers work at the lab of 'Lunar Palace 365' project in Beijing, China, May 10, 2017. China Daily/via REUTERS/File Photo ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. EDITORIAL USE ONLY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

(170510) -- BEIJING, May 10, 2017 (Xinhua) -- A staff member monitors the Lunar Palace 1, a facility for conducting bio-regenerative life-support systems experiments key to setting up a lunar base, in Beijing University for Aeronautics and Astronautics (BUAA) in Beijing, capital of China, May 10, 2017. A ceremony was held in the BUAA on Wednesday as 8 volunteers start a 365-day experiment in two groups in the Lunar Palace 1.  (Xinhua/Ju Huanzong) (zhs)

Tianzhou-1 experiments to put stem cells to the space test

The Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft prepares for launch on Hainan on Thursday. Photo: EPA

(170420) -- BEIJING, April 20, 2017 (Xinhua) -- The screen at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center shows China's first cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1, atop a Long March-7 Y2 carrier rocket, blasting off from Wenchang Space Launch Center, April 20, 2017. China declared the launch of Tianzhou-1 a success, as it entered designated orbit Thursday night, marking a crucial step for the country in building a space station by approximately 2022.  (Xinhua/Liu Fang) (zkr)

Up, up and away for China’s space freighter

A Long March 7 rocket carrying the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft blasts off from the Wenchang launch centre on Hainan. Photo: AP

Journalists take pictures at the Wenchang Space Launch Center, where China's cargo spacecraft Tianzhou-1 is scheduled for launch, in Wenchang, southern China's Hainan Province on April 20, 2017. The spacecraft is scheduled to be launch later in the day. / AFP PHOTO / Fred DUFOUR

Tianzhou-1 spaceship. PHOTO : HANDOUT / Credit: CGTN/China 24

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Ultimate aim is to land on orbiting space rocks and exploit their mineral wealth, top space scientists say


China plans ambitious space mission to hunt and ‘capture’ asteroids by 2020

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ultimate aim is to land on orbiting space rocks and exploit their mineral wealth, top space scientists say

Ultimate aim is to land on orbiting space rocks and exploit their mineral wealth, top space scientists say