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the Moon
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THE country's space exploration plans include not only missions to the Moon but also Mars, Xinhua cited a government official as saying yesterday (July 19).
China will also seek international cooperation for its deep space plans, it quoted Sun Laiyan, head of the China National Space Administration, as saying. |
"In the coming five years, China will on the basis of its Moon probes actively plan deep space exploration, focusing on lunar and Mars exploration," Xinhua said in a brief report.
China expects to launch its first lunar probe next year, national media has said. It will spend a year orbiting the moon to collect three-dimensional images and data on the moon's surface and environment.
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The satellite, which Xinhua said has a budget of 1.4 billion yuan (US$175 million), is part of a three-stage project first approved in 2004 that includes a lunar vehicle by 2012 and a module to collect rock samples by 2017.
Sun also said China would study the distribution and utilization of lunar resources, and terrestrial planetary science, particularly the Earth-Moon system, as well as provide a scientific basis and measures for supporting mankind's sustainable survival and development on Earth.
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the Mars
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Key research areas also included astronomy and solar physics, space physics and solar system exploration, micro-gravity sciences and space life science.
Sun urged Chinese scientists to increase their understanding of star and universe evolution through the observation and study of the sun and black holes.
In the next five years, Sun said, China would independently develop and launch an astronomical satellite.
China would advance its exploration of the integral behavior of the chain reaction of solar-terrestrial space, establish a space weather forecast pattern on which a weather support system for space flight safety and communication would be based, he said.
China's effort in space exploration:
China to launch Shenzhou VII in 2008
Shenzhou VI carrying two astronaut finished a five-day space flight last October
Shenzhou V finished China's first manned space mission
China plans "KuaFu Mission" for Sun probe
from Chinaview.cn
As China steps up its lunar exploration, some scientists in the country are planning another space project, the "KuaFu Mission", aiming to study the activities of the Sun.
At the ongoing 36th Committee on Space Research Scientific Assembly, Tu Chuanyi, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the project, expected to be launched in 2012, will study the complex Sun-Earth system and improve the space weather forecast.
The mission will raise the standard of end-to-end observation of the Sun-Earth system, and advance scientists' understanding of the basic physical processes underlying space weather, said Tu, who is also a professor with the Beijing University.
Tu said the mission is designed to observe the complete chain of disturbances from the solar atmosphere to geospace, including solar flares, coronal mass ejections (CMEs), interplanetary clouds, shock waves, and their geo-effects, such as magnetic storms and auroral activities.
The name of the mission comes from an ancient Chinese legend of KuaFu, who tried to catch the Sun and enter it.
"The KuaFu mission may start at the next solar maximum, the year of 2012, hopefully, and with an initial mission lifetime of two to three years," Tu said.
Editor: Wing
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