Launched on October 1, China’s Chang’e-2 spacecraft braked itself into an orbit around the Moon on October 6, Beijing local time.
Firing its onboard engine for 30 minutes, the probe entered a 100 kilometer by 8,000 kilometer orbit. The craft takes some 12 hours to complete an orbit of the Moon. Chang’e-2 will make other braking actions, lowering itself into a 100 kilometer by 15 kilometer target orbit.
China’s space officials hope to gather high-resolution images of the lunar surface, particularly of the Bay of Rainbows area.
That site is being considered as the landing site for a follow-on probe, the Chang’e-3 robotic lander – and a next step in China’s lunar exploration plans.
The 2.5 ton Chang’e-2 blasted off on a Long-March-3C carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in Southwest China’s Sichuan province.
Total expenditure for the Chang’e-2 mission is about 900 million yuan, equal to 134.33 million U.S. dollars.
China’s spacecraft joins the already orbiting NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) that has been actively surveying the Moon with an array of scientific gear, producing exciting findings since July 2009.
By LD/CSE