Seeking public views on lunar tunes is not crying for the moon
By Zhao Huanxin (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-07-08 05:07
Huang said the person whose recommended list best matches the final list will
be awarded a chance to witness the launch of the Chang'e-1 satellite. Other
winners will receive badges or CDs as souvenirs.
Chang'e-1 is named after a young fairy who flies to the moon in the Chinese
legend.
Weighing more than 2 tons, the unmanned orbiter is scheduled to blast off
from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province
aboard the country's Long March III-A rocket.
Huang declined to say when the orbiter will be launched. Earlier reports said
it could happen as early as April. It is expected to fly in orbit for a year,
according to the centre sources.
As the first stage of a three-phase lunar probe mission, the unmanned fly-by
mission will obtain three-dimensional images of the moon's surface and study its
mineral content. A soft-lander will be sent into the moon with a "lunar vehicle"
to cruise the surface around 2012.
Around 2017, another soft-lander will be sent to the moon to fetch lunar
samples, Luan Enjie, commander-in-chief of the country's lunar exploration
programme, said earlier.
The State Council approved the moon exploration project
in 2004. The mission budget totalled 1.4 billion yuan (US$172.8 million).
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