Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
International Moon Day, declared by the UN, celebrates lunar exploration led by nations across the globe, including China's groundbreaking missions to the moon's far side.
So why is the moon calling us back now?
and how will today's moonshots shape the future of science and technology and maybe even life beyond Earth?
Coming to you live from Beijing, this is Roundtable.
I'm He Young. For today's program, I'm joined by Steve Hatherley and Gao Junya, first on today's show.
For thousands of years, we've gazed up at the night sky, trying to understand our only natural satellite, the moon, From the first telescopes to the historic Apollo 11 mission, lunar exploration has been a major milestone for humanity.
In recent decades, China has made remarkable strides in this journey by sending probes that mapped the lunar surface, landing rovers on the mysterious far side, and even bringing lunar soil back to Earth for groundbreaking research. These breakthroughs mark China as a leading force in expanding our knowledge of the moon.
It's International Moon Day, Steve.
Tell us how it became it is today, and we'll go from there.
Yeah, it hasn't been that long recognized as a day, as a matter of fact.
It was declared on the 9th of December in 2021 by the UN General Assembly, and the decision followed a recommendation from the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
And since that time, the International Moon Day is celebrated every year on the 20th of July.
And this day is chosen because International Moon Day celebrates the anniversary of the first time that human beings ever set foot on the moon.
Now, the celebration of International Moon Day was not that long ago, its establishment, but getting people to the moon was a long time ago, right?
right? It was back in 1969.
That was accomplished by the Apollo 11 mission.
That's when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon.
Michael Collins stayed in orbit aboard the Columbia Command Module, and this marked the really historic feat in moon exploration, and it paved the way for future research and discovery, of course.
And you remember the famous quote, right?
One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
Yes, that's a wonderful line that many of us who studied English in China recited during our student years.
And Junya, you know, what does the special day mean for global space exploration?
I think, yes, just like Steve mentioned, that this day was just, you know, established established four years ago back in 2021.
But I think our pursuit for the moon, you know, our imagination for the moon has been here for thousands of years.
For example, in China, we have this mid -autumn festival, right, you know, in honor of the moon.
And it's not only for family gathering.
I don't know for you, He Yang here in Beijing, you know, for me back at home, My family would offer certain fruits to the moon Just on that day, the Mid -Autumn Festival And tell us where is the location?
Just close to the window where we can see the moon So that the goddess in the moon Or certain spirit in the moon will enjoy it Are you from Datong, right?
Yes, Shanxi Province Interesting, I didn't know that there's that ritual I thought only in ancient years Not only moon cakes Not only mooncakes.
Oh, cool. Yeah, it's not only a festival here in China, actually.
In East Asia, like in South Korea, in Japan, Vietnam, they do have certain celebrations for the moon.
And there is this one, famous one in Sri Lanka, actually.
They had every full moon day, they celebrate it as a Polla Day.
It's a public holiday and religious holiday day where the temple people will visit temples and you know have certain wishes for their families and themselves really cool um that's kind of for festivals human beings can enjoy uh in different countries around the world but for this day international moon day they created it to celebrate the achievements of not just you know one country or two countries or three they they created it to celebrate the achievements of all countries in exploring the moon and what they hope hope to do with this day is to raise awareness about the importance of sustainable
exploration and the use of the moon in the future.
Yes, and it's an opportune moment to look at China's lunar programs, which have made monumental strides over the past two decades.
What are some of the most notable moments in China's lunar exploration?
Well, you know, we'll just, I'll just take you for a quick walk through the journey and some major achievements for China's lunar exploration.
You know, back actually in 1958, China's scientist, famous scientist, Chen Xuesen actually had that call for Chinese people to go to the moon.
And I think, you know, that seed has been planted since then.
And actually China's lunar exploration started in late 20th century, back in 1997.
a group of top Chinese scientists urged the government to focus on lunar exploration and leading to the inclusion of lunar research in China's space plans by 2000.
And then, actually, China's Chang 'e program officially kicked off in 2004.
This marks the starting point of China's lunar exploration mission.
and in 2007, the Chang 'e 1 spacecraft was launched, making China the fifth country in the world to launch a lunar satellite, and its mission was to verify lunar probe technologies and create the country's first map of the moon's surface, and then Chang 'e 2 followed in 2010 with improved improved technology and a mission to scout landing sites for Chang 'e 3, which made history in 2013 as China's first spacecraft to soft land on the moon.
That was a big deal for China because the Chang 'e 3 carried the U -2 rover and it was launched towards the moon.
It successfully landed on the 14th of December and it set a world record for the longest operational time on the lunar surface.
And with that success, China's space team, they aimed for the next challenge which was exploring the moon's far side which is really cool.
And they were able to accomplish that.
The first ever soft landing of a human -made probe on the moon's far side was achieved in 2018 by, yes, you guessed, Chang 'e 4.
And it carried four scientific payloads developed by scientists from different countries around the world.
The Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, and And Saudi Arabia, also other countries included as well, that was launched into space.
And again, it was the first ever soft landing of a human made probe in that on that side of the moon.
Amazing. Amazing indeed.
And it demonstrated precise engineering and advanced communications via a relay satellite, opened up a completely new frontier for lunar science.
How exciting. signing.
And what about after that?
Then it would be 2020?
Yeah, that was Chang 'e 5.
And that's when the country got samples from the lunar soil.
They collected that and then they brought it back to Earth.
They brought back 1731 grams of lunar samples.
And that was China's first successful successful extraterrestrial sample return so that was number five and then changa six that was uh that had a i think we can say a key breakthrough in technologies and this was in 2024 again they landed on the far side of the uh moon in the south pole eight kin basin they did that in the summertime on the second day of june and then they collected surface and drill samples and they They filled the gap in human beings' ability to collect samples from that side, that far side of the moon.
And what did we find from all the samples that are brought back from the moon?
Aliens. Just kidding.
No, it was a big deal from what they found.
There were 100 scientific papers that have been published afterwards with one major discovery being a new mineral.
That was the sixth known lunar mineral.
and that was discovered on the moon and it named the Chang 'e mineral I don't know how to say that in Chinese Chang 'e so that's what the big discovery was at that time yes and I bet everybody in China whenever we hear the name Chang 'e we immediately think of the beautiful goddess who supposedly lives on the moon with her cute bunny companion, which is the jade rabbit.
And yeah, so that sort of explains where the name comes from.
And what are some of the really, I suppose, valuable points that we can get from the samples that we got back and this mission?
Well, the samples helped scientists understand the moon's history.
Wu Fuyuan is from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and he pointed out that the discovery of that mineral could help us understand how the moon's volcanic rocks, that's called basalt, have changed and developed over time.
And this is really important for studying the moon's history and geology.
And there's also talk about future excavation on the moon's resources.
What would be the high titanium content in that basalt, which is much higher than that, than it is on Earth.
And it seems very far away now, but one day we could see these lunar resources put to practical use.
I mean, it's pretty cool to think about.
We talked about basic science, didn't we?
And how the general public has a hard time connecting with basic science and understanding why this type of research is important.
It's because of what we could discover in the future.
And this is a perfect example of that.
Yes, and also speaking about those samples collected by Chang 'e 5, we know that actually it was distributed to seven universities and institutes from six countries.
They're France, Germany, Japan, Pakistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
It's just, you know, yes, not only China, right?
A lot of other countries, they also have their plans to explore the moon.
I think just peaceful exploration and peaceful competition and even, you know, cooperation and to, you know, to bring mutual benefits for mankind, I think is the, you know, is the goal of the global community.
Yeah, that sounds really great.
And these are some fantastic achievements of mankind.
And what are the future plans for China's lunar exploration project?
Yeah, this is pretty exciting.
So there's two major tasks that are on the way.
And this was confirmed by the China Manned Space Agency or CMSA in March of this year, that by the end of 2025, China's manned space program will focus on these two things.
Number one, the application and development of the space station and the manned lunar exploration.
The plan is to carry out a manned lunar landing before the year 2030, where two carrier rockets will be launched to send a manned spacecraft and a lunar lander into lunar orbit.
So the spacecraft and the lunar lander, they will rendezvous, they will meet up, they will dock together, other.
And then astronauts will enter the lander.
And then when the lander arrives on the moon's surface, astronauts will drive the lunar rover for some scientific exploration.
Sounds like something you watch in a movie.
Yeah, very much. And ongoing innovations and constructions are being carried out too.
By now, major spaceflight -related products, including carrier carrier rocket, manned spacecraft, lunar lander, moon landing spacesuit, and manned lunar rover, they're all in preliminary development stages, while the test and launch facilities related to the lunar landing mission are being developed and constructed from suits to training gear.
What are some of the fascinating space tech products catching attention now?
Yeah. The moon landing spacesuit is pretty excited.
Wang Yu is how you say that, I think.
It means gazing into the cosmos.
Can I say it again, please?
Yes, please. Wang Yu.
Wang Yu. You got it.
The suit, these are always so cool to look at, right?
So this suit comes with enhancements in performance.
It has a longer lifespan.
It also has improved technical capabilities.
It has innovations in life support recycling, human efficiency and sensor technology.
And they designed it with the moon in mind.
So it's built to support real time operations while the astronauts are on the surface of the moon.
Yes, indeed. And there are other interesting inventions, even a new set of core muscle training device.
Vice, this is going to really rock the gym on our planet.
We talked about functional fitness on the show, didn't we?
Sounds like functional fitness for astronauts.
Yeah. So this is a core muscle training device, and it's built for long -term space missions.
So what it does, or how it works, is it uses air pressure as resistance.
It inflates and deflates an internal gas canister, and then it adjusts the levels of resistance.
And for missions to the moon, especially when astronauts, when they first land on the moon, maintaining their posture stability is really, really important.
And the core muscles of the astronauts play a key role.
So that device helps to ensure that the astronauts are physically ready for the demands of lunar landings.
And it helps them maintain and control their muscle and their movement functions.
And it just keeps them in really good shape.
Yeah, I think now we know that there is no Chang 'e on the moon, right?
Now, I think the answers we're trying to find out is whether I don't know, maybe whether we can have a travel to the moon someday or even live on the moon someday in the future.
Yeah. Maybe this is the answers the scientists are now looking for.
Yeah. And, you know, there are celebrations around the world for International Moon Day as well.
One of the ones that kind of caught my attention is called the Starmus Festival.
festival this was founded by an astronomer by the name of garrick israelian but also founded by astronomer and musician brian may do you recognize that name one of my favorite guitarists of all time the lead guitarist of queen did you know i maybe many people don't know this but brian may is an astrophysicist yeah and what an amazing life what should i do be a super international rock star or an astrophysicist or how about both um so anyway they started this starmas festival and they have a lot of different astronauts involved and they've featured Apollo mission celebrities at their science festivals
including Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin and they're celebrating International Moon Day by hosting this is kind of fun they're hosting an activation on their social media community links and what they're asking people to do their followers to do is to share their photos their illustrations or their digital art showing the moon moon.
And they're doing that on Sunday, July 20.
And Starmas will share those throughout the day on their Instagram stories, which is kind of a fun way to celebrate International Moon Day.
I think so. And from Chang 'e soaring through ancient legend to China's lunar probes exploring the moon's far side, our fascination with the moon has always been both cultural and scientific, As China prepares for greater lunar missions, it's not just about reaching new heights.
It's about contributing to a global vision of peaceful, sustainable exploration.
After all, the moon belongs to all of humanity, and we don't know what's out there.
Lunar exploration efforts aren't just about reaching the moon.
It's about how we get there and whether we can do it with curiosity, cooperation, and care.
