Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




DRAGON SPACE
China to land first moon probe next year
by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) July 31, 2012


China has said it will land an exploratory craft on the moon for the first time next year, as part of an ambitious space programme that includes a long-term plan to put a man on the moon.

China's third lunar probe will blast off in the second half of 2013 and attempt to land and transmit back a survey of the moon's surface, state television reported late Monday.

If it succeeds, experts said it would be the first craft to land on the moon as part of a mission -- as opposed to performing a controlled crash landing at the end of one -- since the Soviet space programme achieved the feat in the 1970s.

"They (China) want a space programme that can be considered one of the finest in the world," said Morris Jones, an independent space analyst based in Sydney, Australia.

"If you want to be world leader in space, then you have to do missions like this."

The landing planned for next year would be China's first on the lunar surface and mark a new milestone in its space development. It is part of a project to orbit, land on and return from the moon, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Beijing sees its multi-billion-dollar space programme as a symbol of its rising global stature, growing technical expertise, and the Communist Party's success in turning around the fortunes of the once poverty-stricken nation.

The Asian superpower has been ramping up its manned activities as the United States, long the leader in the field, has scaled back some of its programmes, such as retiring its iconic space shuttle fleet.

In its last white paper on space, China said it was working towards landing a man on the moon -- a feat so far only achieved by the United States, most recently in 1972 -- although it did not give a time frame.

It has spent about 39 billion yuan ($6.1 billion) on its manned space programme since it began 20 years ago, state media have said.

Most recently, a 13-day voyage of the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft became China's longest-ever space mission and was notable for including the nation's first woman astronaut among its three-member crew.

The crew also achieved China's first manual docking with an orbital module, the Tiangong-1, a highly complex manoeuvre first conducted by the Americans in the 1960s and essential to building a permanent manned space station.

The first key achievement in that programme came in 1999 with the launch of the unmanned Shenzhou-1 craft.

Two years later, Shenzhou-2 lifted off carrying small animals, and in 2003, China sent its first man into space. Since then, it has completed a space walk in 2008 and an unmanned docking between a module and rocket last year.

Next year's planned lunar probe launch will follow the Chang'e 1 in 2007 and Chang'e 2 in 2010, both named for the Chinese goddess of the moon.

Xinhua quoted the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense as saying the project was proceeding smoothly.

"I think it's well within China's capability and budget," Chen Lan, an independent space analyst, told AFP of next year's planned mission.

He said, however, that the third stage that calls for landing and then returning from the moon would require further technical progress in launch capability.

Chen said he envisions a timeframe of 2015-2016 for China to be ready to carry out that mission. But he did not see a manned mission to the moon as China's near-term objective.

"It's not a technical decision," he said. "It's a political decision."

.


Related Links
The Chinese Space Program - News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








DRAGON SPACE
China launches Third satellite in its global data relay network
Xichang, China (XNA) Jul 30, 2012
China successfully launched the Tianlian I-03 satellite on Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, completing the country's first data relay satellite network system. The satellite was launched on a Long March-3C carrier rocket at 11:43 p.m. Beijing Time, according to sources with the center. Developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the ... read more


DRAGON SPACE
US flags still on the moon, except one: NASA

Another Small Step for Mankind

Russia starts building Moon spaceship, eyes Lunar base

Plans to revisit Moon impeded by financial difficulties

DRAGON SPACE
New York's Times Square to broadcast Mars landing

ESA's Mars Express supports dramatic landing on Mars

Martian polygons and deep-sea polygons on Earth: More evidence for ancient Martian oceans?

Sending Our Curiosity to Mars

DRAGON SPACE
Science fiction comes to life in Italian lab

XCOR Releases Payload Users Guide for Lynx Suborbital Vehicle

NASA Offers Condolences on the Passing of Pioneering Astronaut Sally Ride

Sally Ride, first US woman in space dead at 61

DRAGON SPACE
China to land first moon probe next year

China launches Third satellite in its global data relay network

Looking Forward to Shenzhou 10

Argentina, China ink space cooperation deal

DRAGON SPACE
A Fish Friendly Facility for the ISS

Russian cargo ship manages to dock at ISS on second try

Another Progress Freighter Re-Docking Attempt Set for July 29

Japanese cargo craft docks with ISS

DRAGON SPACE
Checkout begins with the Fregat upper stage for Arianespace's third Soyuz mission from French Guiana

ESA studies future of Europe's launch services

The Intelsat 20 integrated on to Ariane 5 for upcoming flight

Arianespace's Ariane 5 receives its HYLAS 2 payload

DRAGON SPACE
RIT Leads Development of Next-generation Infrared Detectors

UCF Discovers Exoplanet Neighbor

Can Astronomers Detect Exoplanet Oceans

The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Dust

DRAGON SPACE
Quantifying the Environmental Impact of Structural Materials with B-PATH

Northrop Grumman GATOR Radar System Delivered to Wallops Island for the Start of Government Developmental Testing

Jury picked in blockbuster Apple-Samsung case

BELLA Laser Achieves World Record Power at One Pulse Per Second




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement