Chapter 17
Future Prospects of Lunar Lander
Technology
17.1 Introduction
Although there were over 100 lunar probes that had visited the Moon and even 12
astronauts who had set their feet on lunar surface [1–3], human knowledge about the
moon is still limited. There are lots of unsolved mysteries such as origin and evolution
of the Moon, whether there is large amount of water or ice on the Moon, lunar internal
structure and etc. At the same time, utilization of lunar resource became the focus
of all space countries because the contradiction between the increasing demand
for resources and the depletion of the Earth’s resources is becoming increasingly
prominent.
The prospect to requirements of future development of lunar exploration and trend
of lunar lander technology is given in this chapter.
17.2 Trends in Future Development of Lunar Exploration
The basic technology for lunar exploration has been mastered by human being after
60 years practice. China will become one of the advanced countries in lunar exploration technology after implementation of CLEP orbiting, landing and sample return.
The future development of lunar exploration can be summarized on three trends.
(1) Lunar exploration is still focus of deep space exploration for all countries.
Lunar missions were planned in the future 30 years strategic plan of aerospace
industry of the United States, Russia, Japan and ESA. Although the hottest spot
of deep space exploration is now Mars exploration for space countries such as
the United States, the importance of lunar exploration cannot be ignored yet
because that the Moon is a convenient test bed for technology demonstration
and the potential of lunar resources utilization is enormous, which makes lunar
exploration be another focus of deep space exploration. After 1990s, 13 lunar
© National Defense Industry Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D.-Y. Yu et al., Technology of Lunar Soft Lander, Space Technology Library 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6580-9_17
551
Future Prospects of Lunar Lander
Technology
17.1 Introduction
Although there were over 100 lunar probes that had visited the Moon and even 12
astronauts who had set their feet on lunar surface [1–3], human knowledge about the
moon is still limited. There are lots of unsolved mysteries such as origin and evolution
of the Moon, whether there is large amount of water or ice on the Moon, lunar internal
structure and etc. At the same time, utilization of lunar resource became the focus
of all space countries because the contradiction between the increasing demand
for resources and the depletion of the Earth’s resources is becoming increasingly
prominent.
The prospect to requirements of future development of lunar exploration and trend
of lunar lander technology is given in this chapter.
17.2 Trends in Future Development of Lunar Exploration
The basic technology for lunar exploration has been mastered by human being after
60 years practice. China will become one of the advanced countries in lunar exploration technology after implementation of CLEP orbiting, landing and sample return.
The future development of lunar exploration can be summarized on three trends.
(1) Lunar exploration is still focus of deep space exploration for all countries.
Lunar missions were planned in the future 30 years strategic plan of aerospace
industry of the United States, Russia, Japan and ESA. Although the hottest spot
of deep space exploration is now Mars exploration for space countries such as
the United States, the importance of lunar exploration cannot be ignored yet
because that the Moon is a convenient test bed for technology demonstration
and the potential of lunar resources utilization is enormous, which makes lunar
exploration be another focus of deep space exploration. After 1990s, 13 lunar
© National Defense Industry Press and Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
D.-Y. Yu et al., Technology of Lunar Soft Lander, Space Technology Library 38,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6580-9_17
551