China Releases Names of Moon-Landing Spacesuit & Crewed Lunar Rover
The China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, unveiled the names of the Moon-landing spacesuit and crewed lunar rover for the country's crewed lunar exploration missions. The Moon-landing spacesuit is named "Wangyu", meaning "gazing into the cosmos", and it echoes the name of the country's extravehicular spacesuit, "Feitian." It means "flying into space", according to the CMSA.
"'Feitian' has realized the Chinese people's dream of flying into space, and 'Wangyu' means efforts to look into deep space and the universe and explore the unknown. China's crewed space program has embarked on a new journey of landing on the Moon and heading into deep space," said Zhang Wanxin, the director of the spacesuit engineering office at the China Astronaut Research and Training Center.
"Wangyu" also showcases China's adherence to the peaceful use of space and contribution to building a community with a shared future for humanity.
The crewed lunar rover is called "Tansuo", meaning "to explore the unknown". The agency said that the name reflects the lunar rover's mission and practical value in aiding the Chinese people to uncover the mysteries of the Moon, and that it is highly consistent with China's yearning to explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build itself into a space power.
"'Tansuo' not only means that we are going to the Moon, exploring new areas and seeing unknown places in the universe, but also showcases our further exploration of science and technology. 'Long as the way is, I will keep on searching high and low.' I think this is an important opportunity for us to explore the vast universe and build China into a space power," said Zhang Chongfeng, deputy chief designer of the crewed spacecraft for China's Crewed Space Program.
After for the first time soliciting from the public for the new vehicles of future crewed lunar exploration missions in 2023, from September to October 2024, the CMSA successively launched a campaign to solicit names for the Moon-landing spacesuit and crewed lunar rover. It has attracted widespread attention and enthusiastic participation from the entire society.
A total of more than 9,000 submissions were received from organizations specializing in the fields of aerospace, science and technology, and cultural communication, as well as people from all walks of life.
"During the early stages of development, we have mastered key technologies such as the manufacture of lightweight and smaller-sized Moon-landing spacesuits, as well as comprehensive protection against complex environments. We have now fully entered the prototype development stage, and are currently conducting comprehensive performance and function assessments and verifications of the prototype products. In the future, we will turn the attention of the people across the country into our driving force for work, and fully promote the development of the Moon-landing suits," said Zhang Wanxin.
"The (crewed lunar rover) prototype we made has completed experiments in a simulated lunar surface test site and has also carried out a large amount of experimental work in a field test site. Currently, the crewed lunar rover has entered the prototype stage and is undergoing detailed design and subsequent engineering tests," said Zhang Chongfeng.
China has been steadily pressing ahead the development and construction of equipment for its crewed lunar landing mission progressing as planned. The key technical research and in-depth demonstration in the early stage have been completed, and the prototypes of the equipment are now in their initial development phases.
China aims to achieve crewed lunar landing by 2030 to carry out scientific exploration and technical experiments, make breakthroughs in and master critical technologies, such as crewed Earth-Moon round trips, short-term stays on the lunar surface, and human-robot collaborative exploration. The mission will encompass a range of tasks, including landing, roving, sampling, research and returning to Earth, with an aim to form an independent capability of crewed lunar exploration.
By utilizing pre-crewed flight tests and crewed lunar missions, China plans to conduct large-scale space science experiments targeting three key areas, including lunar science, lunar-based science, and resource exploration and utilization.
Production and ground tests of prototypes of the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the crewed spacecraft Mengzhou, the lunar lander Lanyue, the spacesuit to be worn by astronauts, and the lunar rover are underway as planned.
Ground facilities and equipment for the production and tests have been completed and are operational, and the construction of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site is proceeding as planned.
Duration: 2 minutes
Release Date: Feb. 12, 2025
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