Factbox on China's lunar programme

DRAGON SPACE

by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Oct 24, 2007
China on Wednesday launched the Chang'e I satellite, the nation's first lunar orbiter, which will photograph and map the moon's surface.

Here are some key facts about the mission and China's lunar programme:

-- Satellite launched aboard a Long March 3A rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in southwest China's Sichuan province.

-- During the one-year mission the satellite will take three-dimensional images of the moon's surface and probe the distribution of chemical elements on the surface.

-- Crucial stages during the satellite's 380,000-kilometre (235,600-mile) journey include leaving Earth's orbit on October 31, entering lunar orbit on November 5 and transmitting first images of the moon to Earth in late November.

-- The 2,350-kilogram (5170-pound) Chang'e satellite is carrying a stereo camera and interferometer, an imager and gamma/x-ray spectrometer, a laser altimeter, a microwave detector, a high energy solar particle detector and a low energy ion detector.

-- China's lunar programme aims to put an unmanned rover on the moon and bring back samples to Earth by 2012. China then aims to put a man on the moon by around 2020 in preparation for building a permanent lunar base.

-- Chang'e I is named after Chang'e, a famous character from Chinese mythology. She ascended from earth to live on the moon as a celestial being after drinking an elixir.

* Sources: China National Space Administration, government-run media.

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DRAGON SPACE

Asia's space race heats up as China launches first lunar orbiter

Beijing (AFP) Oct 24, 2007
Asia's space race heated up on Wednesday as China launched its first lunar orbiter, an event hailed in the world's most populous nation as a milestone event in its global rise.

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