The country took a big step forward in space exploration Wednesday
after launching its first lunar orbiter.
At 6:05 PM, Chang'e I blasted off from the Xichang Satellite
Launch Center atop a Long March 3-A carrier rocket.
The circumlunar satellite separated from the rocket at 6:29 PM
and entered into Earth orbit, where it will travel for seven days,
according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
About an hour after the launch, Li Shangfu, director of the
Xichang launch center, declared the endeavor a success after
Chang'e I entered the Earth orbit and unfolded its solar panel for
energy.
The control of the orbiter was then transferred to BACC.
"It marks another milestone in China's space program," said
Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan at the Xichang center.
Developed with indigenous technology, the 1.4 billion yuan
(US$186 million) mission is considered the third milestone in the
country's space venture, following the launch of the first
satellite in 1970 and two manned missions in the past five
years.
"This was a truly perfect launch. If I were to rate it, I would
give it a hundred out of a hundred," said Zhou Jianliang, a deputy
chief engineer at the Beijing center.
Chang'e I, named after a legendary Chinese fairy who flew to the
moon, is expected to enter the Earth-moon transfer orbit on October
31 and reach the moon's orbit on November 5.
It will circle around the moon for a year to analyze chemical
and mineral composition and to explore the characteristics of the
lunar surface.
It will use stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map
three-dimensional images of the surface and study the moon's
dust.
The satellite is expected to transmit its first photos back to
Earth in the second half of next month.
It is the first step of China's three-stage moon mission, which
will lead to a moon landing of a rover around 2012. In the third
phase, another rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with
soil and stone samples for scientific research around 2017.
Complex maneuvers
For scientists involved in yesterday's liftoff, it is too early
to relax as they have to adjust the orbiter path from time to time
to make sure it enters the preset orbit.
They will maneuver it at least 10 times before it enters the
moon's orbit. The Shenzhou VI manned spacecraft in 2005 was
maneuvered three times by scientists in the flight control
center.
Because of the repeated maneuvers, the fuel that Chang'e I
carries accounts for nearly half of the 2,300-kg weight of the
satellite, scientists said.
"It will be a very complicated journey," said Li Xiaojin,
director of the aerospace department of China Aerospace Science and
Technology Corporation, which designed and manufactured Chang'e I
and the carrier rocket.
Many factors are critical in the process.
"Before this mission, we have never tried to control and monitor
a satellite as far as 380,000 km from Earth. The farthest distance
a satellite has gone before is 80,000 km," Li said.
There are also worries whether the orbiter can adjust well to
the temperature of the moon - which ranges from -180 C to 130 C -
and whether the orbiter can function with the storage battery
during two expected lunar eclipses when its solar panel cannot
receive sunlight.
Peaceful mission
"Chang'e I is purely a scientific mission; it has no military
aim and is carrying no military facilities or equipment," a
spokesman for the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry
for National Defense said Wednesday.
Luan Enjie, chief commander of the lunar satellite project, said
China will not embark on any competition "in any form with any
country" and will "share the results of its moon exploration with
the whole world", adding that China pursues a policy of peaceful
use of space.
"China welcomes international cooperation in space activities,"
Vice-Minister of Science and Technology Li Xueyong said, adding the
country hopes to become the 17th nation to join the International
Space Station (ISS) project.
The space station is a joint project of 16 nations including the
United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and 11 countries from
the European Space Agency.
Rene Oosterlinck, director of legal and external relations of
the European Space Agency and one of the foreign guests invited to
watch the launch, said three of the agency's stations around the
world will help monitor the voyage of Chang'e I.
"We are looking forward to cooperate with China in the second
and third stages of the lunar probe program," he said.
Stephen Mackwell, head of the Lunar and Planetary Institute,
told Xinhua that he believed China's space exploration was more of
an opportunity than a "threat".
Mackwell said China boasts rich resources in the field of space
technology, from which other countries would find more cooperation
opportunities.
Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar exploration program,
said the lunar orbiter project's US$186 million price tag is
worthwhile as it is the same amount needed for building 2 km of a
subway in Beijing.
"It will boost the development of national science and
technology and help train a group of talents in the space field,"
he said.
Chinese scientists started systematic and comprehensive analysis
and research about lunar science as early as the mid-1960s, and
started a feasibility study on lunar probe plans in the 1990s.
(Xinhua News Agency October 25, 2007)
