China is looking to start work on building a base on the moon using lunar soil within the next five years, according to state media.
Beijing “aims to establish a basic model for a lunar research station base by 2028 and expand it into an international one,” state outlet CGTN reports.
The state-run China Daily said Beijing also plans to launch a probe to retrieve the world’s first soil sample from the far side of the moon around 2025.
The U.S., China and Russia have long been jostling for power in space, and some officials have stressed the security importance of the U.S. keeping up with space and cyber advances. NASA aims to once again put astronauts back on the lunar surface by around 2025.
China’s ambitious plan to set up a lunar station comes after a meeting of over a hundred Chinese scientists and researchers to discuss potential lunar infrastructure, as reported by the South China Morning Post.
Reuters reports that a robot capable of making bricks out of lunar soil will be part of China’s China’s Chang’e-8 mission around 2028.