Guan Feng, director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration, told CGTN what the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) will do, as well as what its research would mean for the general public. He said the ILRS will answer some of the biggest questions people have about the moon, like how it came into existence, and whether crops can be grown in lunar soil. | CGTN

China has cemented its place in the elite group of nations mastering high-precision lunar navigation. In April 2025, a research team led by the Yunnan Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) achieved a historic milestone by successfully conducting the world’s first daylight satellite laser ranging (SLR) in Earth-Moon space. By targeting the Tiandu-1 satellite—a 61kg technology demonstrator orbiting approximately 130,000 kilometers away—scientists captured a clear return signal des