Special report: China launches first lunar
orbiter
BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- 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.
