China employs commercial competition to speed up manned lunar program

JIUQUAN -- China is increasingly integrating commercial competition into its manned space program, particularly the crewed lunar exploration project, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) said on Thursday.

A competitive commercial model has already been adopted for the development of the crewed lunar rover, lunar surface remote-sensing satellites and low-cost cargo transportation system for the space station, CMSA spokesperson Zhang Jingbo noted.

Contracts for these facilities have been signed following a competitive selection process, and development work is now underway, Zhang added.

Zhang said that both the scale and proportion of commercial participants have "significantly increased" compared to the past, and their contribution to accelerating the program's progress is becoming "ever more evident."

Looking ahead, the program plans to include competitive commercial models in the research and development of scientific payloads, such as the lunar scientific probe platform and crater-detection platform, Zhang revealed.

China is holding firm to its goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2030, and has outlined a packed schedule of development and testing for its ambitious crewed lunar program, he said.