China probe captures lunar image
- From: rst0wxyz <rst0wxyz@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 27 Nov 2007 22:04:33 -0800 (PST)
China probe captures lunar image Save Email Print
Posted: 3:53 PM Nov 27, 2007
Last Updated: 3:53 PM Nov 27, 2007
http://www.wibw.com/news/headlines/11864636.html
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveils the moon image captured by China's
lunar orbiter Chang'e BEIJING, China (AP) -- China displayed the first
image of the moon captured by its Chang'e 1 lunar probe at a gala
ceremony Monday, marking the formal start of the satellite's mission
to document the lunar landscape.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao unveils the moon image captured by China's
lunar orbiter Chang'e 1.
Unveiling the image at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, Premier
Wen Jiabao hailed it as a major step in "the Chinese race's 1,000-year-
old dream" of exploring the moon. The black and white image clearly
showed craters on the moon's surface.
China hopes the probe, launched late last month, will have surveyed
the entire surface of the moon at least once by early next year.
The probe's launch closely followed the start of a similar mission by
Japan, prompting speculation over a new space race in Asia. India
plans to launch a lunar probe in April. Watch Premier Wen Jiabao
unveil the image >>
Chinese officials, however, have played down talk of such competition,
saying Beijing wanted to use its program to work with other countries
and hoped to join in building the international space station.
"We have a very open program and we are willing to cooperate according
to common international practices," said Sun Laiyan, head of the China
National Space Administration.
"For the time being we have no plans to send any Chinese onto the
moon," he said.
"So please do not put even more pressure on our shoulders. But having
said that, I'm confident that one day China will send its taikonaut on
the moon and I hope to see that day," Sun said at a news conference,
using the Chinese term for astronaut.
The Chang'e 1 satellite, slung into space by a Long March 3A rocket,
will survey the moon's surface using stereo radar and other tools as a
precursor to a planned lunar landing in 2012 and a mission to gather
lunar samples by 2020.
Chinese space officials have said they were being careful not to
travel territory already covered by the space programs of Russia, the
U.S., Japan and the European Space Agency.
China's space program is backed by the country's secretive military.
While Beijing insists it is committed to a peaceful space program,
analysts point to numerous potential applications for its technology.
China alarmed the international community in January when it blasted
apart an old satellite in space, using a land-based missile.
Sun twice referred to the space program as fulfilling "national
security" needs, but did not elaborate.
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