Special report: China launches first lunar
orbiter
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Scientific working staff watch the
screen showing the movement of China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 at the
Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, Oct. 31, 2007.
Chang'e-1 completes its last orbital transfer before leaving earth on
Wednesday afternoon, a critical move to push it to fly to the moon "in a
real sense". (Xinhua Photo)
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BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- The first orbital correction for China's lunar
probe Chang'e-1 is expected to carry out on Friday morning, according to the
moon exploration team.
The move, which was planned to be conducted on Thursday, was canceled as
the probe was traveling on the expected trajectory in an "unexpected precisely"
way after it left the earth orbit late Wednesday, said Wang Yejun, chief
engineer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
"BACC will issue instructions to Chang'e-1 to ignite two small engines on
board Friday and slightly modulate its trajectory, in a bid to guarantee that
the satellite travels on the pre-set orbit," Wang said.
A second orbital correction might be carried out Sunday, he said.
China successfully launched the Chang'e-1, named after a mythical Chinese
goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon, on Oct. 24. The probe
entered the earth-moon transfer orbit and began to fly to the moon in a real
sense after completing the fourth orbital transfer on Wednesday.
It is expected to reach the moon's orbit at 11:25 a.m. Monday.
BEIJING, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar
probe Chang'e-1 completed its fourth orbital transfer on Wednesday afternoon, a
critical move to push it to fly to the moon "in a real sense."
The engine on the probe was started at 5:15
p.m.. Thirteen minutes later, the probe was successfully shifted to the
earth-moon transfer orbit with an apogee of about 380,000 km.
Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar
probe Chang'e-1 completed its third orbital transfer on Monday afternoon, one
more step forward in its 1,580,000-km journey to the moon.
Instructions for the orbital transfer was
issued by the Yuanwang-3 space tracking ship in south Pacific at around 5:56
pm. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 26 (Xinhua) -- China's lunar
probe Chang'e-1 is expected to arrive at the apogee of more than 70,000
kilometers from the earth on early Saturday morning after having completed its
second orbital transfer on Friday, according to the moon probe team.
Chang'e-1, China's first moon orbiter, is now moving
on a 24-hour orbit and it is forecast to arrive at the apogee at around5:30 a.m.
on Saturday. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- China's first
lunar probe Chang'e-1 completed its first orbital transfer Thursday afternoon,
another key move in its 380,000-km journey to the moon.
The orbital transfer began at 5:55 p.m. and succeeded
after 130 seconds. The probe was transferred to an orbit with a perigee of about
600 km, up from the former 200-km perigee, according to the Beijing Aerospace
Control Center (BACC). Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Chinese scientists
have successfully activated the first probing equipment on the Chang'e-1 lunar
orbiter on Thursday evening to start exploring the space environment between
earth and moon. Full story
