The vehicle will collect data for use in efforts to set up a base on the moon, the Beijing Youth Daily reported, citing Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist in China's lunar exploration program.

The vehicle is expected to carry astronomical equipment, for observation of outer space, as well as seismological gear, to detect moonquakes, according to the report.

A design contest has been launched among Chinese universities, and the Harbin Institute of Technology in the north of the country has developed three different models, according to the report.

China has already detailed plans to launch a lunar satellite in 2007 and land an unmanned craft on the moon in 2010, while another unmanned craft will collect lunar dust in 2020.

China became the third country after the United States and the former Soviet Union to achieve manned space flight in October last year, when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times.

SPACE.WIRE