BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- China planned to launch the Chang'e-2, the country's second lunar probe, at the end of 2010, the State Administration of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense said Monday.

    The Chang'e-2 was to test key soft landing technologies for theChang'e-3 and provide high-resolution photo images of the landing area, the administration said.

    China has made progress on six key technologies of Chang'e-2, including the lunar capture, orbit control and the research on high-resolution stereo camera, it said.

    Ye Peijian, chief designer of Chang'e-1, the country's first moon probe, said earlier that China's three-stage moon mission could be defined as "orbiting", "landing" and "returning".

    Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 are part of the second phase of the country's lunar exploration program.

    The Chang'e-1 lunar probe was launched in October 2007 as the first step of China's three-stage moon mission.

    "Chang'e" is named after a legendary Chinese moon goddess.




China to launch second lunar probe in 2010: report

    BEIJING, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- China will launch its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, in October 2010, a top Chinese space scientist told China Daily on Thursday.

    The newspaper quoted Ye Peijian, chief designer of the nation's first moon probe, as saying that the second lunar orbiter will carry different payloads and orbit the moon in a different way. Full story

U.S. lunar probe finds water on moon

A "significant amount" of frozen water has been found on the moon, the US space agency NASA said Friday.(Xinhua/AFP File Photo) Photo Gallery>>>

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 13 (Xinhua) -- Preliminary data from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, or LCROSS, indicated that the mission had successfully uncovered water during the Oct. 9 impacts into the permanently shadowed region of Cabeus crater near the moon's south pole, NASA said on Friday in a press release.

    "We're unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding," said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.Full story