China's space program needs to build up technical expertise and
make further breakthroughs in rocket technology before the country
can launch a recoverable moon rover, say scientists.
Sun Jiadong, chief designer of China's lunar probe project, told
Xinhua that as far as technical standards were concerned, China's
space exploration equipment was much heavier than that made by
developed nations, though the Chinese products were of the same
quality, met the same criteria and performed the same tasks.
The lunar probe project had been developed on the basis of
former scientific research results, including piloted space
flights, Sun said.
China's first lunar orbiter Chang'e-1 -- named after a mythical
Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon --
blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket on Oct. 24 from the
Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in the southwestern province of
Sichuan.
The 2,300-kg satellite, representing the first stage of the
three-phase lunar probe project, would enter the earth-moon
transfer orbit on Wednesday, a crucial step forward in its
1,580,000-km journey towards the moon.
It will relay the first picture of the moon in late November and
will then continue scientific exploration of the moon for a
year
Ye Peijian, the chief designer of Chang'e-1, said technical
research had begun for the second phase of the moon exploration
project.
"A soft landing vehicle needs a variable thrust engine, whereas
the current engines all have fixed thrust," Ye said.
Sun said a dozen or so institutions were involved in the
development of lunar rovers needed for the second and third phases
of the project.
In line with the current design, one kilogram of lunar soil and
rocks at most could be collected in the third stage, Ye said.
In the three-phase mission, a soft moon landing and launch of a
moon rover will be completed around 2012, and another rover will
land on the moon and return to the earth with lunar soil and stone
samples for scientific research around 2017.
The moon rovers and the soft landing vehicle should meet high
standards, as they were expected to stay on the moon for three to
12 months, Ye said.
"Since it takes time for China to develop and build
new-generation carrier rockets, Chang'e-2 for the second-stage
exploration will most likely lift off on the existing Long March
3A," Ye said.
However, earlier reports suggested the Chang'e-2 and 3 were
possibly to blast off on new carrier rockets.
Some other scientists echoed Ye, pointing out that the limited
thrust of Chinese rockets posed a major challenge for China's moon
probe project, especially a manned mission.
Luan Enjie, chief commander of China's lunar probe project, told
Xinhua that existing carrier rockets only had a thrust of 600 tons,
whereas a thrust of 3,000 to 4,000 tons was needed to send humans
to the moon. The larger thrust would allow a rocket to carry at
least 100 tons.
Ye said China had no timetable for a manned moon landing.
Other challenges included monitoring antenna and limited human
resources.
Ye said the United States had arranged monitoring antenna around
the world, while China was limited to its own territory. Even at
home, antenna for deep space exploration had yet to be
installed.
Ouyang Ziyuan, another senior scientist in the moon probe
project, said it suffered from a dearth of technical talent needed
for a much larger capacity of carrier rockets and monitoring
antenna.
China has already announced plans for the development of a new
family of rocket launchers and the building of a space launch
center.
The Long March 5 carrier rockets will be made in the northern
coastal city of Tianjin while the new launch center will be located
in the southernmost province of Hainan.
Media reports said the next-generation rockets would be able to
lift 25 tons of payload to near-earth orbit, up from the current
nine tons; and 14 tons of payload to geosynchronous orbits, up from
five tons.
As the launch center in Hainan will not be ready until 2012, the
new generation rockets will not blast off before 2013, media
reports said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2007)