The video by the Chinese National Space Administration details a large lunar outpost, but interestingly, it contains CGI of a NASA space shuttle taking off from the lunar surface.
The project is known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), and was first presented as a joint development between China and Russia. Currently, the project is under according to Space News the initiative was joined by Venezuela, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Belarus, South Africa, Egypt, Thailand and Nicaragua.
The ILRS demonstration video presented last week shows a number of missions — including lunar soil sample return missions, lander, lunar rover and auxiliary orbiting satellites — as planned«Chagnier-6» and «Chagnier-7», which are due to launch next month and in 2027, respectively. Together with «Chagnier-8», they will form the basic ILRS model until around 2028. Future plans will concern communications, electricity generation and other infrastructurewhich will be built and developed into a large lunar outpost.
Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s lunar exploration program, says the ILRS will be built in two phases: the first — by 2035, complex scientific facilities with basic functions and main support elements will be created around the south pole of the Moon, and in the second — by 2045, create a well-equipped and stable facility «of significant scale».
Interestingly, in the background of the Chinese base demonstration, an old NASA shuttle is shown taking off from the launch pad. The spacecraft was decommissioned back in 2011, and the US space agency is basically banned from cooperating with Chinese organizations. In addition, NASA has own monthly program «Artemis».
Later, the Chinese news channel CGTN managed to solve the problem with the American shuttle on video. How? The good old fashioned way «Blur».
Source: Space.com