杏吧原创

China has revealed further details of its plans to explore the Moon 鈥� the first unmanned probe could be launched by 2005, say officials. They also hinted that the motivation for the missions is to mine the Moon鈥檚 resources.

The lunar program, named Chang鈥檈 after a legend about a fairy that visits the moon, would be in three phases. First an orbiter would be sent to the Moon, followed by a lander, and then finally a sample return craft.

鈥淲e will be able to embark on a maiden unmanned mission within two and a half years if the government endorses the scheme now,鈥� Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China鈥檚 lunar exploration programme, told The People鈥檚 Daily.

However, a firm timetable for these missions has not been announced and funding has yet to be approved.

Mineral and energy resources

Ziyuan said exploring the Moon 鈥減robably holds the key to humanity鈥檚 future subsistence and development鈥�. Chinese officials have previously said that some sort of permanent, most likely unmanned, base could be established on the Moon鈥檚 surface by 2010.

Furthermore, Luan Enjie, director of China National Space Administration, hinted that China would be interesting in exploiting rare resources found on the Moon鈥檚 surface.

鈥淭he prospect for the development and utilisation of the lunar potential mineral and energy resources provide resource reserves for the sustainable development of human society,鈥� he told the newspaper.

However, James Oberg, a space analyst and veteran of the US space program, believes the projects are more about national pride than scientific or industrial exploration. Nonetheless, he says the lunar missions are well within China鈥檚 means.

Head of the queue

鈥淭hey鈥檝e already developed the capabilities to operate spacecraft around the Moon and even on its surface,鈥� he told New 杏吧原创.

China has so far launched four 鈥淪henzhou鈥� spacecraft in preparation for a crewed mission into space. Such an achievement would make China only the third nation in the world, after the US and Russia, to place humans in space.

Oberg adds that China has set itself a number of ambitious goals. 鈥淎s with their manned programme, they don鈥檛 intend to recreate the US and Russian programmes,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey intend to go to the head of the queue in terms of capabilities.鈥�