WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2001
China plans to send probe to moon
BEIJING: China plans to send a probe to the moon, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday.
The probe will be launched on a Chinese-made Long March rocket, Xinhua said, quoting a report by Chinese National Space Administration chief Luan Enjie at a recent conference. It did not say whether firm plans had been drawn up or give other details.
China's space program regularly launches satellites, and has set a goal of a manned launch by the end of this decade. However, few details are available of new developments in the military-linked program.
Lunar exploration allows China to "struggle for a more important place in the world space science field and raise our deep space exploration technology to a higher standard,' Xinhua quoted Luan saying.
Luan said the lunar probe program was complemented by a recent agreement with the European Space Agency to jointly study the magnetosphere - the magnetic field that surrounds Earth.
The "Double Star" program calls for China to build, launch and operate a pair of satellites carrying European and Chinese experiments, according to Xinhua.
China's communist government has poured huge resources into making the nation a force in space.
In addition to its scientific benefits, lunar exploration has an "immeasurable usefulness to raising national prestige and inspiring the nationalistic spirit," Xinhua said. ( AP )
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