China's first lunar probe Chang'e 1 sent back its first moon
picture on Tuesday as scheduled, the National Space Administration
has said.
Experts will later adjust cameras on the satellite according to
the moon picture's quality to ensure following photos are clear and
accurate, the Shaanxi-based West China City Daily reported
today.
The first moon photo will be made public next week, the report
cited the administration as saying.
Tests on the orbiter's equipment showed that it is working
normally and in good condition, the administration said.
The probe had orbited the moon 168 times by 2 pm yesterday, the
administration said.
More tests will be conducted in the next few days that will help
ensure data transmissions continue. The satellite has gone through
a number of tests since it entered the moon's orbit on November 7.
Chang'e 1's position was adjusted on Monday so its probing
equipment faced the moon.
The satellite, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew
to the moon, is supposed to stay 200 km above the moon's surface to
carry out scientific explorations for one year.
Cameras on the 2,350-kilogram satellite are expected to
photograph every inch of the moon's surface by mid January.
The orbiter is expected to analyze the chemical and mineral
composition of the lunar surface and send data back to the Earth so
that scientists can better understand the moon's environment, Li
Guoping, the administration's spokesman, said in earlier
reports.
Chang'e 1 blasted off on a Long March 3A carrier rocket on
October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan
Province, marking the first step of China's ambitious 10-year moon
plan, which will lead to a moon landing and launch of a moon rover
around 2012.
In the third phase, scheduled for 2017, another rover will land
on the moon and return to earth with lunar soil and stone samples
for scientific research.
In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after
the United States and Russia to send a human into orbit.
(Shanghai Daily November 22, 2007)