When President Xi Jinping greeted via video link the three orbiting Chinese astronauts from the Beijing Aerospace Control Center on Wednesday, the people’s attention was drawn to the spacious module of the space station during the broadcast.
Tianhe, the core module of the Tiangong space station, whose construction will be completed in a record time of less than two years, is bigger than most train or subway carriages. With a diameter of 4.2 meters, it has six separate zones for work, sleep, sanitation, dining, healthcare and exercise. This will surely compensate for the demanding work schedule of Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, who will have to complete a crucial stage of the construction in three months.
Compared to the cramped living conditions of the International Space Station, this is working at the height of luxury, at least by international space-traveling standards.
And the food? There are more than 100 varieties, including fresh fruits, along with a super-refrigerator to keep them from going bad. Classic Chinese dishes? No problem! Shredded pork with garlic sauce, kung pao chicken and classic stir-fried rice are all on the menu. What about Sichuan cuisine such as fish-flavored shredded pork, or ice cream and dessert dumplings? All there!
Now, what if we send tourists instead of professionals up there? What about affordable space tourism, Chinese style? So far, the nascent industry has been associated with British billionaire Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, and a few other startups. It’s not far-fetched.
Since 2001, the ISS has been open to the occasional visiting tourist, who usually has had to fork out millions of dollars for the privilege. But that’s not for the faint of heart, and it offers few creature comforts. You and your family probably wouldn’t want to stay in the ISS, which is like a high-tech caged home in Hong Kong. Anyway, its life cycle is close to expiring and its future uncertain.
The Tiangong, on the other hand, is a different proposition. With State subsidies and policy backing, Chinese commercial space travel and tourism can easily flourish. The United States has weaponized space and even established the Space Force, which is considered the sixth and newest branch of the US military forces.
By contrast, China is a peace-loving nation and promotes international cooperation, rather than conflict and detrimental competition. Beijing has offered the Tiangong space station and a planned moon station, to be built with Russia, to international researchers and astronauts. Why not plan for international tourists down the road, too?
Chinese excel in commercialization that is a win-win for everyone. A separate module to the space station can easily be designed to become a space hotel. And a five-star resort on the moon by the middle of the century? Totally possible!
Furthermore, China and Russia have already formed a partnership to build a moon base, with a timeline for construction and completion by the middle of the next decade.
During this decade, the construction and operation of the International Lunar Research Station will be fully automated. It will be accommodated by an orbiting lunar station, several Chinese-made orbiters, and a set of mobile rovers and robots.
The European Space Agency, Thailand, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia have all expressed interest in joining the project. Perhaps Washington can learn to put aside its outdated Cold War mentality to learn to cooperate with other nations, rather than dominate them.
By 2025, a lunar site will be selected for the moon base, with construction expected to start the following year. When fully completed in about a decade, it will offer a full range of facilities and equipment to study lunar topography, geomorphology, chemistry, geology and the internal structure of the moon, as well as enabling space and Earth observations from the moon’s surface. The lunar station will be serviced remotely by the orbiting station that can also be a transit point to transport cargo and people.
The moon station and lunar orbiters will be steppingstones for future manned missions to Mars. Mining large quantities of Helium-3 deposits on the moon may also become economically viable. This isotope is thought to be able to provide safe nuclear energy in a fusion reactor because it’s not radioactive and does not produce dangerous nuclear waste.
So, a five-star hotel resort on the moon? Who wouldn’t want to orbit Earth, the moon and spend a few days surveying the lunar surface in fully automated rovers, all in safety and comfort?
The multimillionaires and billionaires who pay for the big tickets could subsidize education trips for the most promising Chinese and international students. During their stay, they can take super-STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) classes while conducting actual experiments in space and on the moon.
Space should be for exploration, education and vacation, not weaponization. China can lead the way, literally, to universal peace. The UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was set up in 1959 to prevent the weaponization of space. Former US president Donald Trump’s creation of the Space Force was a blatant violation of the treaty that China should not emulate in competition. Rather, China should use space as a unifying force toward a peaceful world.
The author is a freelance writer and veteran journalist focusing on Chinese mainland and Hong Kong affairs.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.