[FPSPACE] some news on Chinese lunar exploration

[pjp]

>From Agency France Presse

 

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/China_plans_to_survey_every_inch_of_08102007.ht
ml

 

China plans to survey 'every inch' of moon

 

China plans to survey all of the moon's surface before eventually bringing
bits of the planet back to Earth, state media reported Friday.

"We would like to survey every inch of the moon's surface," Ouyang Ziyuan,
chief scientist of the China's moon exploration project, was quoted as
saying on the website of Chinese News Service.

Ouyang, speaking at a conference in southwestern China this week, said
China's lunar exploration programme was divided into three phases: orbiting
the moon, landing on the lunar surface and coming back to Earth with
samples.

China hopes to send an unmanned spacecraft to the moon to survey the moon
systematically and after that, will attempt to collect samples of the moon
to bring back to Earth, he said.

China's space agency chief, Sun Laiyan, said earlier this year that the
country aimed to launch its first lunar orbiter in the second half of 2007.

"The moon probe project is the third milestone in China's space technology
after satellite and manned spacecraft projects, and a first step for us in
exploring deep space," the China National Space Administration head said.

The orbiter represented the first phase, with a moon rover to be used in the
second phase scheduled for around 2012, reports said.

The plan for the third phase was for another rover to land on the lunar
surface and collect samples before returning to Earth.

China would continue to research manned space missions, including a space
walk and experiments to link passing spacecraft, he said.