BEIJING (AP) – A Chinese satellite
successfully entered lunar orbit Monday, a month after rival Japan put its own probe into orbit around the moon, but Chinese officials denied there was
any competition between the two nations.
Chinese space officials
said the Chang'e 1
satellite, part of the country's ambitious space exploration plans, entered
lunar orbit after completing a planned braking operation.
China plans to keep the Chang'e 1 – named
after a mythical Chinese goddess who flew to the moon – there for one year,
about the same length of time as Japan's probe. China launched its satellite
late last month, while Japan put its into space in September.
The timing of the launches
raises the prospect of a space rivalry between the two Asian nations, with India possibly joining in if it carries through on a plan to send its own lunar probe into
space in April.
But Long Jiang, deputy
commander of spacecraft systems of China's lunar exploration program, said Beijing wanted to use its space program to work with other countries.
"We are willing to
cooperate with the rest of the world to the benefit of humankind, but as to
what kind of cooperation, it depends on specific circumstances,'' Long told a
news conference.
The Chang'e 1 blasted off
on top of a Long March 3A rocket on Oct. 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province in southwestern China.
"All of the subsystems of
the Chang'e 1 are in normal operation so far,'' said Pei Zhaoyu, spokesman for
the China National Space Administration.
The Chang'e 1 has survived
the most critical part of its journey, Pei said. It had to enter the moon's
orbit at the right time and speed, otherwise it could have hit the moon or
flown by it.
He said the satellite's
success was a sign of China's advanced engineering. "The project is a
comprehensive demonstration of China's economic, scientific and technological
power.''
U.S. Defense Secretary
Robert Gates, who is on a two-day visit to China, commended China's Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan over the lunar mission.
"I congratulate him and the
people of China on this achievement. It's clearly a credit to Chinese industry
and innovation,'' Gates said.
The lunar mission adds
depth to a Chinese space program that has sent astronauts orbiting the Earth
twice in the past four years.
Chang'e 1 is the first step
of a three-stage moon
mission. In about 2012 China plans an unmanned lunar landing with a rover.
In the third phase, about five years later, another rover is to land on the moon
and be returned to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples.
China plans a new generation of more powerful
Long March 5 rockets able to lift more weight to the moon – and possibly a
manned mission – but Pei told the news conference these wouldn't be used until
after 2012, missing the second phase.
According to Japanese news
reports last week, Japan plans to send an unmanned probe to land on the moon by
2015.
It would cost about $437
million and consist of an unmanned lander, a rover to study the lunar surface
and a small satellite to transfer data, according to the Asahi and Mainichi
newspapers.
Chang'e 1's goal is to
analyze the chemical and mineral composition of the lunar surface. It will use
stereo cameras and X-ray spectrometers to map three-dimensional images of
the surface and study the moon's dust.
The 5,070-pound
satellite is expected to transmit its first photo back to China late this month.
China sent its first satellite into Earth
orbit in the 1970s but the space program only seriously took off in the 1980s,
growing apace with the country's booming economy.
In 2003, China became only the third country in the world after the United States and Russia to put its own astronauts into space.
But China also alarmed the international community in January when it destroyed an old
satellite with a land-based anti-satellite missile.
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