Cross-border shelling has killed at least 70 civilians, including children, rescue workers and journalists
China wants to start building a lunar base using soil from the moon in five years, Chinese media reported, with the ambitious plan kicking off as soon as this decade.
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.
ALSO READ:
Cross-border shelling has killed at least 70 civilians, including children, rescue workers and journalists
Northeastern University in Boston says the action was taken after some protesters resorted to virulent anti-Semitic slurs
Alongside regional leaders, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will attend the meetings
The Argentinian's beauty got many looking for the 'fountain of youth': She can't be that old, Netizens say
A plea moved in court stated that no one is permitted to wear the official state institution outfit
The ruins in the middle of Pantabangan Dam in Nueva Ecija province are a tourist draw, even as the region swelters in extreme heat
Friday's polling will be held for 88 of the total 543 seats in the lower house or Lok Sabha of Parliament with 160 million people eligible to vote
Kerala will decide the fate of 194 candidates as polling on all 20 parliamentary constituencies will be held in the second phase