[FPSPACE] Chinese aim for lunar base post-2020; Chang'e spacecraft now at launch site undergoing final tests

[pjp]

>From Agency France Presse:

 

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/China_aims_for_lunar_base_after_202_09262007.ht
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China aims for lunar base after 2020

 

China plans to set up a lunar base after 2020, capping a series of
preparatory robotic missions and a human landing on the moon, a Chinese
space official said Wednesday.

The Chang'e 1 lunar probe is now at the launch site and undergoing final
tests ahead of its scheduled launch before the end of 2007, said Ji Wu,
director of China's Centre for Space Science and Applied Research.

China's first lunar mission would be followed by robotic missions in
subsequent years that would be broadened to landing on the lunar surface and
returning to Earth, then a brief human visit, Ji told the international
astronautics congress under way in this southern Indian city. 

The final stage, after 2020, will be to "stay and live longer term" on the
moon and utilise its resources, Ji said.

"As a satellite of the Earth, it is a large platform that never stops and
needs no maintenance," Ji said, citing the advantages of exploring the moon.

He also listed the extreme and natural high and low temperatures on the
lunar surface that may be used for industrial purposes, and potential energy
resources as incentives drawing China to the moon.

In 2003 China successfully launched astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit,
becoming the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United
States to put a man in space.

Its space ambitions have continued to grow and China announced in March that
it would launch a joint mission with Russia to Mars in 2009.

Japan successfully launched its first lunar orbiter this month and India
plans to carry out its own moon mission next year.