Special
Report: 17th CPC National Congress
BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A senior Chinese
official said here Tuesday that researchers and technicians are making final
preparations for the launch of the country's first moon orbiter, Chang'e I, at
the end of October.
Zhang Qingwei, minister in charge of the Commission
of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), who is
attending the 17th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), said
in an interview with Xinhua.
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A passenger aircraft is silhouetted
against the moon in New Delhi September 29, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters
Photo)
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Gallery>>> |
Zhang said his team has nearly finished pre-launch
tests on the rocket and orbiter, which have been transported to the launch site.
Advanced cameras and X-ray spectrometers have been
installed in the orbiter for mapping three-dimensional images of the lunar
surface, analyzing dust on the moon, and studying the space environment between
the Earth and the moon.
"The appropriate time for the launch is in April and
October. We finally choose October with the consideration of weather and
celestial conditions," he said.
"China's moon exploration project is for peaceful use
of space," Zhang said. "We're now equipped with high technologies in doing our
own research."
The next step in the ambitious mission is to launch a
moon vehicle, and then get it back, Zhang said.
Sending the first astronaut into space with the
Chinese-made spaceship Shenzhou V in 2003, China became the third country, next
to the Soviet Union and the United States, to carry out manned space mission.
The Chinese government has included the moon
adventure in 16 key state science projects by the year 2020.
China hopes to join Int'l Space
Station project
BEIJING, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- China hopes to become
the 17th nation joining the International Space Station (ISS) project, Vice
Minister of Science and Technology Li Xueyong said on Tuesday.
"China sincerely wants to cooperate with the United
States in space exploration and join the International Space Station project
that has already involved 16 nations," said Li, a delegate to the 17th National
Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC), on the sidelines of the event.
Full story
Chinese space expert: Int'l
cooperation to be trend in space
exploration
NEW DELHI, Sept. 28 (Xinhua) -- International
cooperation will be a trend in space exploration in the future, said Zhou
Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space engineering project who is here
attending an meeting on space science.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua recently, Zhou
said the ambitious missions to the moon and mars have become a hot spot in space
exploration, which is not only the endless pursuit of the human being, but also
the motivation of the scientific development. Full story
