China to the Moon - Chang'e 1 and 2, Chinese unmanned lunar orbiters Options

[GravityWaves]

Lunar Programme To Be Open To World
Although China is still in the "initial stage" in tapping the moon and outer space when compared with the United States, Russia and Europe, the nation is catching up, Luan said.
http://www.spacedaily.com/dragonspace.html
The first phase of the Chang'e Project was solely accomplished by China through its own technology, products and designs, said Luan, former director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
However, lunar scientists from Europe, the United States and Russia have expressed their willingness to co-operate with China in its research of the moon and deep space exploration, he said.

Chinese scientists are assembling, integrating and testing to ensure that the mission of the nation's first lunar explorer, Chang'e-1, goes smoothly, a top space official said yesterday.
http://english.people.com.cn/200607/26/eng...726_286707.html
"Fundamental development has been achieved in all five related systems ranging from the satellite, the rocket, tracking and control, ground applications and the launch centre since it was approved two years ago," said Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration.
The lunar orbiter is scheduled to blast off next year from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, Sun said at the ongoing eighth International Lunar Exploration Working Group (ILEWG) Conference in Beijing.

The spacecraft will be 2350 kilograms in weight.
According to the plan, the program will go through four phases.

1. Send a satellite to orbit the Moon
2. Conduct exploration on the surface of the moon through the soft landing of a detector.
3. Collect Moon surface samples using a robot, which will then return to the Earth.
4. Manned missions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang'e_program
According to the schedule, detailed program design of the first step will be completed by September 2004. Research and development of a prototype probe and relevant testing of the probe will be finished before the end of 2005. Design, manufacture, general assembly, test and ground experiments of the lunar probe satellite will be finished before December 2006. In 2007 the Chang'e 1 will blast off.

[nprev]

Got it. Now if I could only read the caption...

Attached thumbnail(s)

 

[yaohua2000]

Got it. Now if I could only read the caption...

The text on the right reads "中国首次月球探测工程第一幅月面图像" (Literally: China's first-time lunar exploration project first lunar surface picture)

The text on the bottom-left is too small, but some characters are still readable, google search the characters that readable reveal the full text: "中国首次月球探测工程第一幅月面图像是由嫦娥一号卫星上的CCD立体相机获得的。CCD相机采用线阵推扫的方式获取图像，轨道高度约200km，每一轨的月面幅宽60km，像元分辨率120m。中国第一幅月面图像共由19轨图像制作而成，位于月表东经83度到东经57度，南纬70度到南纬54度，图幅宽约280km，长约460km。图中右侧60公里宽的条带，是CCD相机开机获得的第一轨图像。" (Translation: China's first-time lunar exploration project first lunar surface picture was captured by the CCD stereo camera of the Chang'e 1 satellite. CCD camera uses the method "xiàn zhèn tuī sǎo" (literally: "linear, matrix, push, scan", not sure how to translate :-( ) to capture images, the orbit altitude was about 200 km, each orbit lunar surface width was 60 km, per pixel resolution was 120 m. China's first lunar surface picture was made up from 19-orbit's image, located at longitude 83 to 57 degrees east, latitude 70 to 54 degrees south, the mosaic image's width is 280 km, height is 460 km. The 60 km wide square-shape bar on the right of the picture was the first image that captured after the CCD was turned on.)