Tech billionaire and CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk while en route to China praised Chinese space advancements and the efforts it is taking to be at par with the US and China, as China intends to land its crew on the lunar surface by 2023.
Musk wrote on Twitter: "The Chinese space programme is far more advanced than most people realise."
"By 2030, the Chinese people will definitely be able to set foot on the Moon. That's not a problem," Wu, chief designer of the lunar exploration program, said.
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) May 29, 2023
Read: https://t.co/KUG9KhSKo6 pic.twitter.com/8XoGmaZ51L
On Tuesday 51-year-old Musk landed in the Chinese capital
Beijing where he is likely to meet with the state officials, marking the
trip first in three years.
The former CEO of Twitter is also
expected to visit Tesla's Shanghai plant, Reuters reported citing
sources.
It is not immediately clear what Chinese officials Musk is
expected to meet and what issues would come under discussion. There have
been no reports from the Chinese media about CEO SpaceX's arrival.
According to the Chinese foreign ministry, the government welcomed
Musk — and other business leaders — looking to promote "mutually beneficial
cooperation."
As per the Reuters report in March, Musk was
intending to visit China and was seeking a meeting with Chinese Premier Li
Qiang.
The visit comes at a backdrop when Musk's Tesla is facing
competition from Chinese-manufactured electric cars. The vehicle company is
also facing uncertainty about expansion plans for the Shanghai factory
complex that Musk last visited in early 2020.
After the US, China is the second biggest market for Tesla and
the Shanghai plant is the electric car maker's largest production center.
For
Tesla observers, central areas of interest include the status of its plans
to increase output by 450,000 vehicles annually at its Shanghai plant.
Tesla
said in April that it would build a nearby factory to produce Megapack
energy storage products.
It is also yet to be seen whether
Chinese regulators allow the release of Tesla's advanced driver assistance
features available in other markets as part of the "Full Self Driving"
software it sells for $15,000 per vehicle.
According to ADS-B Exchange, a flight aggregation website,
Musk's private jet, a 2015 Gulfstream G650ER, was shown leaving Alaska on
Tuesday morning Asia time before crossing over Japan and South Korea.
