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




IRON AND ICE
China Makes First Asteroid Fly By
by Staff Writers
Beijing (XNA) Dec 17, 2012


Chang'e-2 came as close as 3.2 km from Toutatis and took pictures of the asteroid at a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second.

China's space probe Chang'e-2 has successfully conducted a maneuver in which it flew by the asteroid Toutatis, about seven million km away from the Earth.

Travelling in deep space, Chang'e-2 made the flyby on Dec. 13 at 16:30:09 Beijing Time (08:30"09 GMT), the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced on Saturday.

The flyby was the first time an unmanned spacecraft launched from Earth has taken such a close viewing of the asteroid, named after a Celtic god.

It also made China the fourth country after the United States, the European Union and Japan to be able to examine an asteroid by spacecraft.

Chang'e-2 came as close as 3.2 km from Toutatis and took pictures of the asteroid at a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second, the SASTIND said in a statement.

Sources with the administration told Xinhua that Chang'e-2 is continuing its deep space travel and will reach a distance of more than 10 million km away from Earth in January next year.

Chang'e-2 was launched on Oct. 1, 2010 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center and later orbited the moon to finish a more extensive probe than its predecessor Chang'e-1.

Chang'e-2 left its lunar orbit for an extended mission to the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrangian point on June 9, 2011, after finishing its lunar objectives, which collected data for a complete lunar map.

The probe departed from L2 this year and began its mission to Toutatis.

Since its blast-off, Chang'e 2 has scored several records: being the first to capture full coverage map of the moon with a resolution of seven meters; being the first object ever to reach the L2 point directly from lunar orbit; and being the first to closely observe the asteroid Toutatis.

China early this year published a full coverage map of the moon, as well as several high-resolution images of the celestial body, captured by Chang'e-2. The resolution of the images is 17 times greater than those taken by Chang'e-1.

"The success of the extended missions also embodies that China now possesses spacecraft capable of interplanetary flight," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar probe program.

Chang'e-2's extended missions, which were conducted millions of km away from Earth, have tested China's spacecraft tracking and control network, including two newly built measuring and control stations in the northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and northeast Heilongjiang province, according to the SASTIND.

However, China still belongs to the second tier in lunar probe internationally, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for China's lunar orbiter project, adding that the Unites States and Russia are still leading nations in this field.

Wu Weiren stressed international cooperation in lunar probe, saying it is a shared responsibility of world scientists to work together in lunar and deep space exploration for the common good of the human race.

Source: Xinhua News Agency

.


Related Links
China National Space Administration
Asteroid and Comet Mission News, Science and Technology






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








IRON AND ICE
Asteroid Toutatis Slowly Tumbles by Earth
Pasadena CA (JPL) Dec 17, 2012
Scientists working with NASA's 230-foot-wide (70-meter) Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., have generated a series of radar data images of a three-mile-long (4.8-kilometer) asteroid that made its closest approach to Earth on Dec. 12, 2012. The images that make up the movie clip were generated with data taken on Dec. 12 and 13, 2012. On Dec. 12, the day of its closest approach ... read more


IRON AND ICE
No plans of sending an Indian on moon

Rocket Burn Sets Stage for Dynamic Moon Duos' Lunar Impact

NASA Gravity Probes Prepare to Hit the Moon

Apollo's Lunar Dust Data Being Restored

IRON AND ICE
Curious About Life: Interview with Darby Dyer

Opportunity Checking Out Some Rocks At Matijevic Hill

Curiosity Rover Nearing Yellowknife Bay

Charitum Montes: a cratered winter wonderland

IRON AND ICE
NASA Progressing Toward First Launch of Orion Spacecraft

New member of the exclusive space club

NASA Awards Commercial Crew Certification Contracts

China patent office becomes world's largest: WIPO

IRON AND ICE
Mr Xi in Space

China plans manned space launch in 2013: state media

China to launch manned spacecraft

Tiangong 1 Parked And Waiting As Shenzhou 10 Mission Prep Continues

IRON AND ICE
Medical Ops, Fan Checks for Space Crew; New Trio Checks Soyuz

Khrunichev Completes Nauka Space Station Module

New Crew of ISS to Perform Two Spacewalks

Space Station to reposition for science

IRON AND ICE
Arctic town eyes future as Europe's gateway to space

ISRO planning 10 space missions in 2013

Russia works to fix satellite's off-target orbit

ULA Launch Monopoly to End

IRON AND ICE
Astronomers discover and 'weigh' infant solar system

Search for Life Suggests Solar Systems More Habitable than Ours

Do missing Jupiters mean massive comet belts?

Brown Dwarfs May Grow Rocky Planets

IRON AND ICE
Building better structural materials

Most US publications have mobile presence: industry

SciTechTalk: Technology of 'The Hobbit'

X-ray Laser Takes Aim at Cosmic Mystery




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