| China's first lunar satellite, Chang E I, is expected to soon receive a descent order to land on the surface of the moon, after a year-long orbiting mission, to help with further study of the sphere.
Xiao Naiyuan, an astronomic professor at Nanjing University, released the details on Sunday, saying that the final landing will offer scientists a rare chance to learn about the geological status on the moon.
Xiao outlined the whole lunar expedition process to listeners at a lecture on the theme of "Marching Towards the Moon". He also introduced other information related to the country's longest ever outer space tour, one that's covered more than 380,000 kilometres.
A multi-stage rocket will boost the satellite to an orbit 200 kilometres away from the moon's surface, Xiao said.
All observation facilities in the country, and Yuanwang space survey ships will trace the satellite in the early stages of its lift-off. Meanwhile, four radio telescopes installed in Beijing, Shanghai, Urumqi and Yunnan Province will monitor the flight through to the mission's end.
The satellite will take off later this year.
The main tasks of the satellite will include graphing a three-dimension map of the moon, detecting resource distribution and measuring the depth of soil on the surface. |
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