A Chinese lunar exploration team plans to conduct research on greenhouses on the lunar surface, said Wang Qiong, a senior space engineer at the China National Space Administration (CNSA), at a press conference in Beijing.
By leveraging lunar surface construction technology, the team hopes to build a greenhouse that will allow lunar rovers and robots to better and more easily withstand the harsh lunar night conditions, said Wang, a researcher at the CNSA's Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Programs.
Lasting 14 days and with temperatures dropping to minus 200 degrees Celsius, lunar nights pose a significant challenge. Wang believes that as lunar exploration moves toward long-term lunar stays, a greenhouse on the lunar surface will prove beneficial. Wang
, who is also the deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, said that by studying the samples brought back by Chang'e-6, Chinese scientists have made a series of major scientific breakthroughs, revealing for the first time the evolutionary history of the far side of the Moon.
On June 25, 2024, the Chang'e-6 return capsule landed in northern China, bringing back 1,935.3 grams of samples from the far side of the Moon, a first in human history.
"We have also carried out fruitful international cooperation," he said, adding that the Chang'e-6 mission carried a CubeSat from Pakistan and three scientific payloads from France, the European Space Agency (ESA), and Italy, all of which have achieved exploration results beyond expectations.
