Special report: China launches first lunar orbiter
A telescope used for monitoring China's first moon orbiter, Chang'e-1, is seen at the Urumqi observatory, in Urumqi, capital of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Oct. 24, 2007. Observatories in Shanghai, Beijing, Kunming and Urumqi monitored the orbiter after it took off at 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Wang Fei)
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BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- All the systems of China's lunar probe Chang'e-1 are in good conditions with the high energy solar particle detector and the low energy ion detector functioning properly on Saturday, according to the moon probe team.
The Chang'e-1, China's first moon orbiter, is currently moving on a 24-hour orbit with an apogee of 70,000 kilometers after it entered the orbit following its second orbital transfer at 5:33 p.m. on Friday, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
The lunar probe has traveled more than 500,000 kilometers so far. It has to travel a total of 1.59 million kilometers before it reaches the moon orbit as planned, said Ji Gang, an engineer of monitoring and controlling branch of the moon probe program.
The BACC said the VLBI beaconing machine on board the satellite has started operation in the early hours on Saturday, and China's four ground monitoring stations with the application of the VLBI, or "Very Long Baseline Interferometry", technology have monitoringChang'e-1.
The VLBI technology helps to reduce the time needed for orbit determination, according Ji.
Ji said the probe will stay on the 24-hour orbit before it moves further from the earth to a 48-hour orbit on Oct. 29, which runs more than 260,000 kilometers.
The satellite is expected to fly to the moon in a real sense after it enters the earth-moon transfer orbit on Oct. 31, and it is planned to arrive in the moon's orbit on Nov. 5.
The lunar probe completed its first orbital transfer Thursday afternoon, in which it was transferred to a 16-hour orbit with a perigee of about 600 kilometers from 200 kilometers.
Chang'e-1, named after a mythical Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March3A carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. Wednesday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan.
The satellite will relay the first picture of the moon in late November and will then continue scientific explorations of the moon for a year.
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. 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. 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
BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- China has no plan or timetable for a manned moon landing for now, senior Chinese lunar scientists told Xinhua on Thursday, a day after the nation launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1. Full story
BEIJING, Oct.24 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched its first circumlunar satellite Chang'e-1 on Wednesday, another step towards its ambition to become a major power in the outer space. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China will not embark on any lunar probe competition "in any form with any country" and will "share the results of its moon exploration with the whole world" in its pursuit of a policy of peaceful use of airspace, said a chief commander of the country's first lunar satellite project. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's first lunar probe Chang'e-1 has begun to use solar energy for power supply as the solar panel of the orbiter was unfolded as planned, according to the control center. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chang'er Chang'e-1 is successfully separated from carrier rocket as planned, the control center said. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China launched its first lunar probe on Wednesday, first step into its ambitious three-stage moon mission, marking a new milestone in the country's space exploration history. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's milestone lunar orbiter project only costs 1 to 1.4 billion yuan (about 133 to 187million U.S. dollars), the same amount as the money used to construct 2 km of subway in Beijing, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of the lunar exploration program. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- China's first moon orbiter which is likely to be launched at around 6:00 p.m. Wednesday from a southwest launch center, has been named after "moon lady" Chang'e, a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon. Full story
BEIJING, Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Testing operators have started leaving the launching tower in the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, where China's first lunar probe Chang'e-1 will blast off at around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday. Full story
XICHANG, Sichuan Oct. 24 (Xinhua) -- Chinese press and thousands of tourists have gathered at China's Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern Sichuan Province to witness the launch of the nation's first moon orbiter, which is scheduled to take place at 6:05 p.m. on Wednesday. Full story
Anscheinend ohne Probleme verläuft zurzeit die erste chinesische Mondmission. Die Sonde war an der Spitze einer Trägerrakete von Typ Langer Marsch 3 am Mittwoch, dem 24. Oktober, um 18:05 Uhr CST gestartet. Ziele der Mission sind die Herstellung dreidimensionaler Aufnahmen, Höhenmessungen sowie das Studium der Oberfläche. Unter anderem soll nach Rohstoffvorkommen gesucht werden.

Alle Systeme von „Chang'e 1“, so der Name der Sonde, seien nach Angaben eines Sprechers des „Beijing Aerospace Control Center“ (BACC) in einem guten Zustand. Funktionstests am Hochenergie-Sonnenpartikel-Detektor und an einem niedrigenergetischen Ionendetektor seien am Samstag, den 27. Oktober, ohne Probleme verlaufen.

Nach dem ersten Orbit-Transfer am 25. Oktober folgte am Freitag, dem 26. Oktober, um 17:33 Uhr CST eine weitere Zündung der Triebwerke, mit der erneut eine andere Umlaufbahn erreicht wurde. Diese hat in ihrer maximalen Entfernung zur Erde einen Abstand von 70.000 Kilometern. Von den 1,59 Millionen Kilometern Gesamtdistanz waren am 27. Oktober zirka 500.000 Kilometer zurückgelegt.

Die ersten Bilder soll die Sonde Ende November zur Erde funken, die wissenschaftlichen Messungen mit der Sonde sollen dann noch ein Jahr lang andauern.