China released 1st animated demonstration of taikonauts walking on the moon

China's manned space program has released a promotional video showcasing a series of recent advancements, including the first animated demonstration of taikonauts' "adventure" on the moon by 2030, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Thursday.

The video highlights that China's first manned lunar landing aims to leverage taikonauts' unique advantages in conducting exploration activities on the lunar surface, thus laying the foundation for China's future exploration of extraterrestrial bodies.

This feat is scheduled to take place before 2030, which includes conducting lunar scientific investigations and related technological experiments, the video showed. During the mission, it aims to master key technologies for manned round trips between Earth and the moon, short-term stays on the lunar surface and human-machine joint exploration.

The mission eyes to complete multiple tasks including lunar landing, orbiting, sampling, researching and retrieving, establishing an independent capability for manned lunar exploration.

Chinese researchers will also utilize pre-manned flight tests and the manned lunar landing mission to conduct large-scale space science experiments, with preliminary plans outlining nine scientific objectives across three fields - lunar science, lunar-based science, and resource exploration and utilization.

The video further noted that components for the lunar crewed landing are currently progressing as planned in the production of prototypes and related ground tests, including the Long March-10 carrier rocket, the Mengzhou manned spacecraft, the Lanyue lunar lander, the lunar spacesuit and the manned rover.

On Wednesday, Long March-10 carrier rocket completed a fairing separation test, marking another solid step forward in the rocket's prototype development.

Additionally, a batch of ground facilities and equipment to support these production tests has been completed and put into use, with construction of the Wenchang launch site in South China's Hainan Province also underway, the video disclosed on Thursday.

On the same day, the 6th Human Space Symposium kicked off in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong Province. Coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the successful launch of Shenzhou-1, China's first experimental crewed spaceship and the upcoming second anniversary of the completion of the Chinese space station, over 800 experts and scholars from the field gathered to exchange the latest cutting-edge academic research results and to look forward to the development of China's manned spaceflight program.

This is also the first academic conference held since the completion of the "three-step" strategic tasks of China's manned spaceflight program, marking the beginning of a new journey in space station applications and development, as well as manned lunar exploration.