China plans to launch an unmanned orbiter to circle the moon next year but already landing equipment is being designed that scientists say will scoop up lunar samples for return to the earth in about 15 years.

A six-wheeled concept vehicle greeted curious visitors to the Sixth China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which opened on Monday in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province.

"Such a lunar vehicle will be for use in the second phase of China's lunar exploration project," Sun Weigang, director of the Space Department of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, told China Daily.

Sun said it was the debut show of the "lunar rover'" and to increase its appeal, the company allowed some visitors to remotely control the model, which was placed on an uneven sand surface to simulate lunar conditions.

China had earlier said that following completion of a fly-by mission next year to obtain three-dimensional images of the lunar surface and analyze its content; a "lunar vehicle" would be landed onto the Moon to cruise the surface by 2012.

The second phase will be followed by the soft-landing of another unmanned vehicle to collect samples of lunar soil by 2020, according to Sun Laiyan, chief of the China National Space Administration.

"We are testing some key technologies (that involve the second phase)," Sun Weigang said, adding that the lunar vehicle is being developed principally by the Chinese Academy of Space Technology.

The director said his company is displaying at least 110 types of space technology and applications at the Zhuhai exhibition, which is China's largest air show held biannually.

In addition to powerful new-generation rockets and satellites, the company, a major participant in China's manned space program, is showcasing a 10:1 scale model of a space station for the first time.

The space station will provide room for astronauts and scientists to live and work in outer space for extended periods of time, according to Sun.

In the next five years, the country will conduct research on short-term manned and long-term unmanned orbiting space laboratories, according to "China's Space Activities in 2006," a policy document released earlier this month by the State Council Information Office.

(China Daily October 31, 2006)