China is planning to install an all-seeing surveillance system on the moon to protect a planned lunar base bigger than Disneyland using the technology it uses to spy on its citizens.
The nation wants to use the ‘successful experience’ of its authoritarian Skynet surveillance system to protect the planned base against ‘suspicious targets’, according to a research paper written by scientists at the nation’s space agency that was published in an academic journal.
Skynet is the world’s largest surveillance network, and is used to monitor every nook and cranny of China. With more than 600 million cameras, there is on average one camera for every two adults in the nation.
The lunar version of the programme would see cameras equipped with AI chips ‘capable of identifying, locating, tracking and aiming at suspicious targets independently’ scan the proposed International Lunar Research Station.
China wants to use the ‘successful experience’ of China’s authoritarian Skynet surveillance system to protect the planned base against ‘suspicious targets’ (File image)
‘China, along with Russia, is planning on opening a lunar research station on the moon with a radius of nearly four miles (File image)
The cameras would be able to operate using both visible light and infrared light.
The paper’s authors, who also hail from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and Zhejiang University, write that if ‘abnormalities’ were detected by the system, it would ‘promptly generate alarm signals and initiate appropriate response measures.’
Worryingly, the paper did not detail what the ‘measures’ would be.
China, along with Russia, is planning on opening a lunar research station on the moon with a radius of nearly four miles, larger than any Disney theme park.
The centre is set to house a command centre, power station, comms hub and research facilities.
China wants to begin building the lunar base within the next few years, and is aiming to establish a basic set up using soil from the moon by 2028.
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, Chinese media reports.
Ding’s team previously proposed an egg-shaped base which could be constructed from the soil bricks, named the Lunar Pot Vessel, which could be created using 3D printers and lasers and house astronauts.
‘Building a habitat on the moon is needed for long-term lunar explorations, and will certainly be realised in the future,’ Ding said, while also acknowledging the difficulty of achieving it in the short term.
The robot tasked with making the ‘lunar soil brick’ will be launched during China’s Chang’e-8 mission around 2028, Ding said.
China is also reportedly aiming to retrieve the world’s first soil sample from the far side of the moon during a mission which could take place as early as 2025.
The super power 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.
