China mulls sending spacecraft to edge of solar system: scientist

Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration project, poses for a photo after China's Chang'e-4 mission was awarded the Moon Village Principles - Mission Prize by the Moon Village Association (MVA) at a symposium in Tokyo, Japan, Dec. 5, 2019. (Xinhua/Hua Yi)

BEIJING, May 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists are evaluating the feasibility of a project to send spacecraft to the edge of the solar system, said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar exploration program.

According to the project, the Chinese spacecraft will cover a distance about 100 times than that between the sun and Earth by 2049, when the People's Republic of China celebrates its 100th founding anniversary, Wu said in a recent interview with industry newspaper China Space News.

The distance from the sun to Earth is called an astronomical unit (AU), which is about 150 million km.

The project aims to carry out scientific exploration and experiments at the edge of the solar system, a region about 15 billion km from the Earth.

Photo taken on April 23, 2021 shows the combination of the core module of China's space station, Tianhe, and the Long March-5B Y2 rocket after it was transported to the launching area of the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province.(Photo by Guo Wenbin/Xinhua)

"If the project can be implemented, it will be China's contribution to the world and mankind," Wu said.

"China's space industry has the strength to achieve this goal," the scientist added.