http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112601922.html?wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter&wpisrc=newsletter
China Revels in View From Its First Lunar Orbiter
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 27, 2007; Page A11
BEIJING, Nov. 26 -- China on Monday proudly unveiled images of the moon taken
by its first lunar satellite, launched last month, calling the achievement
proof of the country's technological prowess and ability to eventually land an
astronaut on the moon.
"The full success of our country's first lunar exploration mission is helping
to turn the Chinese nation's 1,000-year-old dream of reaching the moon a
reality," Premier Wen Jiabao said at a ceremony in which he displayed a framed,
black-and-white composite photograph of the moon, the official New China News
Agency reported.
Premier Wen Jiabao, citing China's technological advancement, unveils the
composite photograph made from data sent by a lunar satellite launched Oct. 24.
(By Huang Jingwen -- New China News Agency Via Associated Press)
The photograph showed craters large and small, scattered across rugged terrain
on the moon's surface. According to the Chinese government, the image merged 19
smaller ones shot from space and covered an area of about 285 by 170 miles.
The ceremony, held at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, also featured
music, including the Chinese communist anthem "The East is Red," that officials
said was being broadcast by the lunar orbiter. The song was also played by
China's first Earth satellite as it circled the globe in 1970.
Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration, denied reports
that China had set a 2020 deadline for a manned lunar mission. But he also told
reporters: "I'm confident that someday we'll put an astronaut on the moon. I,
too, want to see this day."
Sun avoided answering questions about how images from China's lunar project
compared with images from Japan's first lunar satellite, launched in September.
India plans to send up a lunar probe in April, leading experts to speculate
about a space race in Asia.
China's lunar exploration project, which cost the equivalent of almost $190
million, according to state media, is the result of innovation and
breakthroughs in satellite orbit design and long-range tracking and data
transmission, as well as improvements in the reliability of launch vehicles,
Sun said.
The lunar satellite, named Chang'e I, went aloft Oct. 24 atop a Long March 3A
rocket in a seamless launch that boosted national pride and signaled China's
first step into deep-space exploration. It is part of an ambitious plan to send
more human beings into space, including the moon, and to build a space station.
"One important purpose of the moon satellite is to find out the physiognomy and
land form of the moon because it will be useful for landing a space shuttle,"
said Han Chao, of the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. "This
time, Chang'e I will take three-dimensional photographs of the moon as a
preparation. If the satellite is too near the moon, the angle of the view will
be small, which is not convenient."
Chinese rocket experts have been quoted by state media as saying that China is
on track to launch its own space station by 2020; as with the claims of a
manned lunar mission by 2020, the China National Space Administration has said
it has no such timetable.
In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after the former
Soviet Union and the United States to send men into space. Russia inherited the
Soviet space program and has launched more manned missions.
The New Express newspaper in Guangzhou city reported this month that China will
launch a third manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VII, next October.
Although Sun stressed that China is "steadfast about the peaceful use of outer
space," its fast-paced and well-funded space program has raised fears that the
Chinese could also have military applications in mind.
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