Straits Times / Singapore Sep 10, 2010 China's lunar probe on track
BEIJING - CHINA is on track to launch its second lunar satellite by year's end, as the country pursues its plans for a manned mission to the moon by 2020, state media said on Friday. Preparations for the launch of the Chang'e-2 probe, which will go into orbit within 15 km of the moon, are going smoothly, People's Daily said, citing Wu Weiren, a senior engineer overseeing the programme. The Chang'e-2 mission 'is currently undergoing pre-launch testing and preparations - the plan is to carry out a trial flight mission by the end of the year,' the paper quoted Wu as saying. The lunar probe will test soft-landing and other technologies in preparation for the launch of the Chang'e-3, which is slated for launch in 2013 and aims to be China's first unmanned landing on the moon, the report said. The Chang'e programme, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, is seen as an effort to put China's space exploration programme on a par with those of the United States and Russia. China launched Chang'e-1, which orbited the moon and took high-resolution pictures of the lunar surface, in October 2007 as part of China's ambitious three-stage moon mission. China's lunar programme hopes to bring a moon rock sample back to earth in 2017, with a manned mission foreseen in around 2020, according to state media. -- AFP. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
