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Recently, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced that after public solicitation and selection, the new generation of manned spacecraft for China's manned lunar exploration mission was named "Dream Boat", and the lunar lander was named "Lanyue".
In China's manned space program, the well-known manned spacecraft "Shenzhou" and the cargo spacecraft "Tianzhou" all have very typical Chinese cultural characteristics. The naming of the new generation of manned spacecraft and lunar lander as "Dream Boat" and "Moon" respectively is not only the inheritance and development of Chinese culture, but also the good expectations of Chinese people for space exploration and flying to the moon.
On February 22, 2024, the Long March 8 Yao-3 carrier rocket arrived at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. (*From China News Service).
丨Behind the "Dream Boat" and "Lanyue" is Chinese romance.
Aerospace technology represents the world's cutting-edge science and technology, and every achievement of China in this field has attracted global attention. Therefore, naming these space achievements requires not only deep meaning, but also cultural heritage, which is undoubtedly a challenge.
Li Bo, a professor at the School of Arts and Humanities of Nanjing Normal University, said, "For thousands of years, our dreams and journeys have always been a sea of stars, and the aerospace dream is the most typical representative of our Chinese dream. Moreover, Mengzhou, and Shenzhou and Tianzhou spacecraft series also form a heritage, the so-called passing on the torch endlessly. ”
The naming of the lunar lander "Lanyue" is inspired by the "Water Tune Song Tou Re-Shangjinggang Mountain" in the "Water Tune Song Tou Re-Shangjinggang Mountain", "You can go to the moon for nine days, you can go down to the five seas to catch turtles, and you can talk and laugh and sing triumphantly". The name is not only poetic, but also expresses the attitude of human beings to actively explore and embrace the moon through the word "lan".
The moon's place in Chinese culture is much more than a simple symbol. From the Book of Songs to folk poetry, the moon has always been an important motif in literature, not only connecting ancient and modern China and foreign countries, but also the bearer of emotions and thoughts. These profound cultural connotations provide rich inspiration for the naming of aerospace technology achievements.
On January 14, 2023, Space Rabbit, the IP image of China's lunar exploration spaceflight, officially announced the Chinese and English names of "Rabbit Star" and "To Star" in Beijing. (*From China News Service).
丨Why are mythological elements mentioned so often?
In 2013, after a nationwide call for ideas, China's first lunar rover finally chose Chang'e as its name. Subsequently, more and more space achievements have adopted the method of soliciting names from the public, and those names that are rich in Chinese characteristics and have far-reaching symbolic meanings are particularly favored.
For example, the dark matter detection satellite "Wukong" launched in 2020 stood out among countless candidates, and it pinned people's good wishes that this dark matter detection satellite can detect dark matter particles in the vast space with "fiery eyes".
In 2021, China's first Mars rover was named "Zhurong", and its name is based on the image of Zhurong, the ancient Chinese god of fire. This naming follows the tradition of Chinese spacecraft naming with traditional cultural elements, such as "Chang'e", "Wukong" and "Beidou". However, this practice of naming mythical figures is not unique to China, and Western countries have similar complexes.
One example is the Artemis manned space program in the United States, named after Artemis, the god of the moon in Greek mythology, echoing the sun god Apollo, who was the name of the Apollo moon landing program in the last century.
In addition, the American "Mercury" spacecraft series is also named through an open call, which not only represents the spirit of the United States, but also borrows from the image of Mercury, the messenger of the gods in ancient Roman mythology. Each ship on a mission is given a unique name, such as "Freedom", "Independence Bell", "Friendship", etc., which both reflect the personality and convey a beautiful meaning.
On September 9, 2022, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the China Atomic Energy Agency (CAEA) jointly released the latest scientific achievements of Chang'e-5 in Beijing. Dong Baotong, deputy director of the China Atomic Energy Agency, announced at the launch event that the new mineral discovered by Chinese scientists on the moon for the first time has been named "Chang'e". (*From China News Service).
丨"Chinese elements" are all over the lunar "community".
Of course, in addition to the man-made vehicles that run to the moon, there are also many place names with Chinese elements on the moon.
At present, there are 35 place names on the moon with Chinese elements, which also reflects the history and culture of China and lunar exploration. Of these, 15 were not directly named by China, as China had not been directly involved in the international astronomical community's work on the naming of lunar geographic entities before 2007. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has chosen the names of some outstanding Chinese scientists and moon-related cultural figures, such as Zhang Heng, Zu Chongzhi, Guo Shoujing, etc., in the naming of the geographical entities of the moon, based on the principles of cultural diversity, internationalization and fairness, and the choice of these names reflects the contribution of Chinese culture and science to lunar exploration.
With the successful launch of Chang'e-1 in 2007, China began to take the initiative to apply for the naming rights of the lunar geographic entity. In 2010, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) approved the naming of the three impact craters named Cai Lun, Bi Sheng and Zhang Yuzhe for the first time based on the whole lunar image data of the lunar exploration project, marking a major breakthrough in the naming of lunar geographic entities in China.
In 2015, with the success of the Chang'e-3 mission, the naming of four lunar geographic entities in its landing area was officially approved by the International Astronomical Union. These names, such as "Guanghan Palace" and the surrounding "Ziwei", "Tianshi" and "Taiwei", are deeply rooted in ancient Chinese mythology and astronomy.
By 2019, the landing site of the Chang'e-4 mission and the geographical entities around it were also named, which are also very similar to ancient Chinese astronomical concepts such as "Tianhe Base", "Weaver Girl", "River Drum" and "Tianjin".
In 2021, the naming of the landing site and its surrounding geographic entities in the Chang'e-5 mission further enriched the Chinese element on the lunar map. These include the naming of mountains such as "Tianchuan Base", "Pei Xiu", "Shen Kuo", "Liu Hui", "Song Yingxing" and "Xu Guangqi", as well as "Huashan" and "Hengshan", demonstrating China's respect and commemoration of lunar exploration and scientific contributions.
These names not only reflect the deep emotional and cultural heritage of the Chinese towards the moon, but also show China's achievements and contributions in the field of lunar exploration. Behind each name is the rich connotation of Chinese culture and a beautiful vision for future exploration, which makes our understanding and naming of the moon more diverse and rich. (ENDS).
Comprehensive Beijing**, Beijing News, People's ** Overseas Edition, Guangming Network, China Youth Daily, etc.
Editor: Yuan Li.