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More than 100 Chinese scientists, researchers and space
contractors recently met at a conference in the central Chinese
city of Wuhan to discuss ways to build infrastructure on the
moon, local media reported.
Ding Lieyun, an expert from the Chinese Academy of Engineering,
said a team is designing a robot named "Chinese Super Masons" to
make bricks out of lunar soil, according to Changjiang Daily.
"Building a habitat on the moon is needed for long-term lunar
explorations, and will certainly be realised in the future,"
Ding said, while acknowledging the difficulty of achieving it in
the short term, according to the report.
The robot tasked with making the "lunar soil brick" will be
launched during China's Chang'e-8 mission around 2028, Ding
said, adding that the country is aiming to retrieve the world's
first soil sample from the far side of the moon in a mission
around 2025.
China previously retrieved soil samples from the near side of
the moon with its Chang'e-5 mission in 2020, state media
reported.
The country has stated that it wants its astronauts to stay on
the moon for long periods once it establishes a lunar research
station.
Ding and dozens of experts were attending the Extraterrestrial
Construction Conference held at Huazhong University of Science
and Technology in Wuhan this past weekend.
(Reporting by Ethan Wang, Bernard Orr and Ryan Woo; Editing by
Kirsten Donovan)
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