China steadily advances lunar exploration program

Research, development and preparations for the crewed lunar landing phase of China's lunar exploration program is advancing steadily, according to the seventh Manned Space Symposium held in Beijing on Saturday.

Uncrewed test flights of the Mengzhou crewed spacecraft and the Lanyue lunar lander are planned ahead of the crewed moon landing mission, the symposium said.

Under the previously announced plan, two Long March-10 carrier rockets will launch the Lanyue lunar lander and the Mengzhou spaceship in succession, then the two will conduct a rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit.

The Mengzhou can carry three astronauts between Earth and lunar orbit, with two of them riding the Lanyue lunar lander between lunar orbit and the lunar surface.

Aiming at the set goal of landing Chinese astronauts on the Moon, the program will subsequently carry out, as planned, the Long March-10 carrier rocket technology verification flight, the first flights of the Mengzhou spaceship and the Lanyue lunar lander, and important missions such as Chang'e-7.

"We will use the unmanned Lanyue lunar lander to verify all the key technologies throughout the entire crewed process as much as possible - including launch, entering the lunar orbit, rendezvous and docking with the Mengzhou spacecraft, landing and staying on the lunar surface, taking off again and re-docking with the crewed spaceship Mengzhou, so as to make sure the crewed flight will be safe and reliable," said Wang Xiang, deputy chief designer of China's Manned Space Program and chief designer of the lunar exploration project.

China steadily advances lunar exploration program

The Mexican Foreign Ministry said Friday that border between Mexico and the United States can not be changed by the decision of a state-level government, and the demarcation of boundary between the two countries must follow standards established by international treaties.

The Texas General Land Office, a U.S. state agency led by Commissioner Dawn Buckingham, has declared nine islands in the Rio Grande, known as the Rio Bravo in Mexico, property of the state of Texas.

In response, the ministry said that under the 1970 Mexico-U.S. Boundary Treaty, the international boundary in the river follows the center line of the normal channel and that line determines sovereignty over the land on either side, regardless of who previously held sovereignty over it.

The International Boundary and Water Commission is the body authorized by the two governments to carry out the treaty and has the power to determine on which side of the boundary each island lies, the ministry said, noting that no state-level government body has the authority to make such determinations.

It stressed that under the treaty, neither side may build works that the International Boundary and Water Commission finds could alter or obstruct the normal flow of the river.

The ministry said Mexico will closely monitor any actions in the area and reiterated that it will abide by the treaty governing the two countries' shared border and continue to pursue dialogue through established mechanisms.

Border with U.S. can not be changed by state-level government: Mexico