China’s Chang’e-3 mission Launching This Year

By: Zain Nabi  |   August 30th, 2013   |   News

China has set a brand new course in its ambitious space program after the announcement of a plan that they will by the end of this year land their first probe on the moon. The country’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense, told state media the launch stage of Chang’e-3 lunar probe is finally near and by the end of the year 2013, China for the first time would land its probe on the moon.

 

“The Chang’e-3 mission makes best use of a plethora of innovative technology. It is an extremely difficult mission, that carries great risk,” Ma Xingrui, the head of China’s space exploration body and chief commander of the lunar program, told the Xinhua news agency.

 

China’s space agency has planned to launch the Chang’e-3 lunar probe from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. If the mission succeeds, China will soon consider attempting more landings on the lunar surface. There are two phases of China’s lunar program; at first they will plot a high-resolution, full coverage lunar map on the lunar surface, while second phase includes orbiting, landing and returning to Earth.

 

In 2010 the Obama administration took a decision to abandon NASA’s plan to return to the moon. This has presented a chance for China to become the second country to step on the moon by the year 2020. The budget that the Chinese get is ten times more than that of the budget NASA receives. China will get $2bn per year for their mission. China started its space program in 2003 by first sending astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit. China conducted a total of 18 launches in space in 2012, according to the Pentagon.

 

According to many experts, NASA has now lost its will to conduct more missions on the moon because of the U.S. administration.

 

“NASA is not going to the Moon with a human as a primary project probably in my lifetime. And the reason is, we can only do so many things,” NASA administrator Charles Bolden told a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and the Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board in Washington this year.