China's First Lunar Probe Collides With Moon
8:20 AM - March 2, 2009 - By Jane McEntegart -
Source : Tom's Guide US
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China's first lunar probe, The Chang'e 1, yesterday crashed into the moon in what Beijing is calling a "controlled crash."
Source: China Daily
China Daily reports that the satellite hit the moon's surface at 16:13 Beijing time and was under the remote control of two stations in Qingda, eastern China, and Kashgar in the northwest of the country. Named after a Chinese moon goddess, the Chang'e 1 took off on October 24, 2007 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and spent 494 days in space. Sunday's collision marks the end of a 16-month moon-mapping mission. The landing is part of China's plan to land a vehicle on the moon to collect mineral samples in 2012.
Source: China Daily
The next stage of the three-stage moon mission would be the 2012 launch of the lunar rover; followed by the final 2017 stage whereby another lunar rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with soil and stone samples for scientific research.
Chinese probe crashes into moon
The probe was launched in 2007 and mapped the moon's surface
A Chinese lunar probe has crashed into the moon in what Beijing has called a controlled collision.
The Chang'e 1 lunar satellite hit the moon's surface at 1613 local time (0813 GMT) at the end of a 16-month moon-mapping mission.
China launched the spacecraft in late October 2007 on a mission to survey the entire surface of the moon.
China's ever-more ambitious space programme includes plans for a space station and landing a man on the moon.
Future missions
Launched into space on one of China's Long March 3A rockets, the probe mapped the moon's surface using stereo radar.
Chang'e 1 was under the remote control of two stations in Qingda, eastern China, and Kashgar in the north-west of the country, the Xinhua news agency said.
China became only the third nation - after the Soviet Union and the US - to put a manned spacecraft in orbit in 2003.
State media said on Sunday China would launch a space module next year and carry out the country's first space docking.
"The module, called Tiangong-1, will provide a "safe room" for Chinese astronauts to live and conduct scientific research in zero gravity," Chinese state media said.
"Weighing about 8.5 tonnes, Tiangong-1 is able to perform a long-term unattended operation, which will be an essential step toward building a space station," it added.
