China Revels in View From Its First Lunar Orbiter

China Revels in View From Its First Lunar Orbiter
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/26/AR2007112601922.html
By Maureen Fan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, November 27, 2007; Page A11

BEIJING, Nov. 26 -- China on Monday proudly unveiled images of the
moon taken by its first lunar satellite, launched last month, calling
the achievement proof of the country's technological prowess and
ability to eventually land an astronaut on the moon.

"The full success of our country's first lunar exploration mission is
helping to turn the Chinese nation's 1,000-year-old dream of reaching
the moon a reality," Premier Wen Jiabao said at a ceremony in which he
displayed a framed, black-and-white composite photograph of the moon,
the official New China News Agency reported.



Premier Wen Jiabao, citing China's technological advancement, unveils
the composite photograph made from data sent by a lunar satellite
launched Oct. 24. (By Huang Jingwen -- New China News Agency Via
Associated Press)

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The photograph showed craters large and small, scattered across rugged
terrain on the moon's surface. According to the Chinese government,
the image merged 19 smaller ones shot from space and covered an area
of about 285 by 170 miles.

The ceremony, held at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, also
featured music, including the Chinese communist anthem "The East is
Red," that officials said was being broadcast by the lunar orbiter.
The song was also played by China's first Earth satellite as it
circled the globe in 1970.

Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration, denied
reports that China had set a 2020 deadline for a manned lunar mission.
But he also told reporters: "I'm confident that someday we'll put an
astronaut on the moon. I, too, want to see this day."

Sun avoided answering questions about how images from China's lunar
project compared with images from Japan's first lunar satellite,
launched in September. India plans to send up a lunar probe in April,
leading experts to speculate about a space race in Asia.

China's lunar exploration project, which cost the equivalent of almost
$190 million, according to state media, is the result of innovation
and breakthroughs in satellite orbit design and long-range tracking
and data transmission, as well as improvements in the reliability of
launch vehicles, Sun said.

The lunar satellite, named Chang'e I, went aloft Oct. 24 atop a Long
March 3A rocket in a seamless launch that boosted national pride and
signaled China's first step into deep-space exploration. It is part of
an ambitious plan to send more human beings into space, including the
moon, and to build a space station.

"One important purpose of the moon satellite is to find out the
physiognomy and land form of the moon because it will be useful for
landing a space shuttle," said Han Chao, of the Beijing University of
Aeronautics and Astronautics. "This time, Chang'e I will take three-
dimensional photographs of the moon as a preparation. If the satellite
is too near the moon, the angle of the view will be small, which is
not convenient."


Chinese rocket experts have been quoted by state media as saying that
China is on track to launch its own space station by 2020; as with the
claims of a manned lunar mission by 2020, the China National Space
Administration has said it has no such timetable.

In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after the
former Soviet Union and the United States to send men into space.
Russia inherited the Soviet space program and has launched more manned
missions.

The New Express newspaper in Guangzhou city reported this month that
China will launch a third manned spacecraft, Shenzhou VII, next
October.

Although Sun stressed that China is "steadfast about the peaceful use
of outer space," its fast-paced and well-funded space program has
raised fears that the Chinese could also have military applications in
mind.



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