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China eyes collection of lunar samples in
2017
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[December 16, 2013]
BEIJING (Reuters) — China aims to
launch its next unmanned lunar probe in 2017, with the key aim of
collecting and bringing back lunar samples, an official said on Monday,
after the country's first probe landed successfully on the moon over the
weekend.
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 China's leaders have set a priority on advancing its space
program, with President Xi Jinping calling for the country to
establish itself as a space power.
The Chang'e 3 probe, named after a goddess in traditional Chinese
mythology, landed on the moon on Saturday, setting down a lunar
rover called the "Jade Rabbit".
The development of the Chang'e 5 probe, tasked with the moon
sampling mission, is well underway and it is expected to be launched
around 2017, a spokesman for the State Administration of Science,
Technology and Industry for National Defense said.
"After the success of the Chang'e 3's mission, the lunar exploration
program will enter the third phase, with the main goal being to
achieve unmanned automatic collection of samples and returning them
(to the earth)," spokesman Wu Zhijian told a news conference.
China has yet to announce its moon ambitions beyond the sampling
mission, Wu said, when asked if it planned to send astronauts there.
He insisted the plans were for peaceful purposes.
"Our country's lunar exploration program is a technology program for
the peaceful uses of outer space, as well as an open program," said
Wu, citing cooperation with Russian and European counterparts and
international bodies.
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The U.S. Defense Department has highlighted China's increasing space
capabilities, however, saying it was pursuing activities aimed at
preventing its adversaries from using space-based assets during a
crisis.
In China's latest manned space mission in June, three astronauts
spent 15 days in orbit and docked with an experimental space
laboratory, part of Beijing's quest to build a working space station
by 2020.
(Reporting by Hui Li and Ben Blanchard;
editing by Clarence
Fernandez)
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