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China Launches Moon Rover Mission
China says the launch of its first robotic mission to the moon's surface has been a success. The Chang'e-3 lunar probe, which includes the "Jade Rabbit" rover buggy, blasted off early Monday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's southwestern Sichuan province. The probe is scheduled to land on the moon in mid-December to explore the lunar surface. China is aiming to become only the third nation to carry out a lunar rover mission, following the United States and the former Soviet Union. Online reactions to the launch from the Chinese public were mixed. One user of the Weibo micro-blogging platform said the mission is a matter of national pride. (http://weibo.com/u/1740806194) "It is an exciting news that China successfully launched Chang'e 3. I still remember the launch of China's first satellite Dongfanghong. ... I am proud of my country." But some question why Beijing is spending so much on its space program. One user said he had other priorities. (http://weibo.com/u/2393557531) "I don't care about Chang'e 3, 2 or 1. What I care about is whether I can afford to go to doctor when I am sick." Australia-based independent Asia space analyst Morris Jones says this mission is ambitious. "Landing on the moon is going to be tricky. The moon is fairly treacherous terrain. There is no pilot on board, and so it is going to take a lot of skill by the onboard computer to steer the vehicle to a safe landing." This craft is expected to make a "soft" lunar landing, which was last accomplished by the Soviet Union in 1976. "Hard" crash landings are easier, and China crashed a craft into the moon in 2009. President Xi Jinping has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, and the mission has inspired widespread pride in China's growing technological prowess. The RAND Corporation's Scott Harold told VOA's Victor Beattie the space program underscores China's technological nationalism. "It is definitely a part of the Chinese government's efforts to show that they are coming of age. They are really increasing their technological sophistication and they're playing on a very big stage." Beijing aims to establish a permanent space station by 2020 and eventually send someone to the moon. In 2007, China launched its first moon orbiter, the Chang'e-1, named after a lunar goddess, which took images of the surface and analyzed the distribution of elements. The lunar buggy was named the Jade Rabbit, or "Yutu," in a public vote, a folkloric reference to the goddess's pet. (VOA's Victor Beattie contributed to this report from Washington.)
China Launches First Moon Probe in Latest Space Exploration Effort
China has successfully launched its first lunar probe in its most ambitious bid yet for a presence in space. Daniel Schearf reports from Beijing. China sent its Chang'e 1 lunar probe into space Wednesday night from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in eastern Sichuan Province. National television broadcast the countdown and launch. The unmanned probe is expected to enter the moon's orbit on November 1. There it will begin mapping the surface of the moon and conduct other explorations over a period of about a year. The satellite is part of a program aimed at putting an unmanned vehicle on the moon by 2012 and eventually sending humans there. China promotes its space program as a peaceful and scientific enterprise but raised considerable international concern when it destroyed an old satellite with a missile-launched weapon earlier this year. China in 2003 became the third country in the world to send a man in to space.
Chinese President Says Space Program is Peaceful
Chinese President Hu Jintao focused on the non-agressive nature of China's military-backed space program at a ceremony Wednesday, celebrating the country's successful launch of a moon probe. Addressing an audience of Communist Party officials, schoolchildren and military officers, Mr. Hu said China's deep-space exploration is for peaceful purposes and for the good of mankind. The ceremony was held Wednesday at Beijing's Great Hall of the People and celebrated China's October launch of the Chang'e 1 lunar satellite. The lunar probe will survey the entire surface of the moon over the next year, and began transmitting photos back to Earth several weeks ago. Its launch came shortly after the start of a similar mission by Japan, prompting speculation over a new space race in Asia. China's neighbor and other rival in Asia, India, plans to launch its first lunar probe in April. In 2003, China became the first Asian country to put an astronaut into space, after the then Soviet Union and the United States. China recently made public its plans to launch a space station to orbit the Earth by 2020. Some information for this report was provided by AP.
Knowledge Graph
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1 These include the Long March carrier rockets, the Chang'e-1 and 2 lunar probes, the Shenzhou spacecraft and the Tiangong 1 and 2 space labs.
2 Since China's first experimental communications satellite was launched in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in 1984, the center has sent more than 100 spacecraft into space in recent decades, including over 20 BeiDou navigation satellites and the country's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1.
3 In 2007, The Chang'e-1 mission started the era of China's lunar exploration, and the launch of the Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 followed soon after. China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2017.