[meteorite-list] China Targets 2013 For Launch of Lunar Landing Mission

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Mon, 9 Jan 2012 15:44:56 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201201092344.q09Niung005697_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1201/09chinamoon/

China targets 2013 for launch of lunar landing mission
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
January 9, 2012

Under a new five-year plan unveiled in December, China will continue to
make methodical progress in human spaceflight, expand its satellite
navigation system, explore the moon and seek space technology
partnerships with developing nations.

China also plans to test new rocket systems to haul hefty payloads into
Earth orbit with kerosene fuel, a less toxic alternative to hydrazine
used on today's Chinese Long March boosters. China is constructing a new
spaceport on Hainan Island off the southern coast of the country's
mainland.

The fresh five-year plan will kick off in 2012 with the launch of two
Shenzhou spaceships to dock with Tiangong 1, a prototype space station
module launched in September 2011. An unmanned Shenzhou capsule
accomplished China's first robotic docking in orbit in November.

At least one of the Shenzhou missions this year will carry a crew of
astronauts.

Chinese officials have not disclosed a timetable for either mission,
which are named Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10.

In the next five years, "China will launch space laboratories, manned
spaceships and space freighters," the plan says. The country will also
"make breakthroughs in and master space station key technologies,
including astronauts' medium-term stay, regenerative life support and
propellant refueling."

China plans to make technological preparations for the construction of a
100-ton space station and initiate research to land humans on the
surface of the moon.

Engineers are developing the Chang'e 3 robotic lunar lander for launch
in 2013, the second phase of a three-step moon exploration effort. China
successfully sent two Chang'e orbiters to the moon in 2007 and 2010,
collecting sharp imagery for a high-resolution map of the lunar surface.

Controllers dispatched Chang'e 2 from lunar orbit to a position at the
L2 libration point a million miles from Earth, the furthest distance any
Chinese probe has ever traveled from Earth.

The third step in the robotic lunar program is to return samples to Earth.

China is also prioritizing Earth observation, communications and
navigation satellites.

Nigeria, Venezuela and Pakistan purchased government-owned broadcasting
satellites for launch by Chinese rockets, and further craft are under
construction in China for Bolivia, Laos and Belarus.

China says it will continue negotiating satellite and launch agreements
with developing countries.

Another focus for Chinese space officials will be the continued
deployment of the Beidou navigation system, a satellite network designed
to provide positioning services independent of the U.S. Air Force's GPS
program.

China activated the Beidou system Dec. 27 on a trial basis. Its 10
satellites currently provide services over the Asia-Pacific region,
including most of China. The coverage zone stretches from the southern
border of Russia to Australia, and from India in the west to the Pacific
Ocean in the east.

Global coverage will be possible by 2020 with a constellation of 35
satellites, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
Received on Mon 09 Jan 2012 06:44:56 PM PST