China’s ‘Chang’e-2′ expected to have enough fuel to return to earth
October 14th, 2010 - 6:54 pm ICT by ANIBeijing, Oct 14(ANI): China’s second unmanned lunar probe, Chang’e-2, is expected to have enough fuel to fly back to earth, Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) Vice Chief-Designer has said.
Zhou Jianliang said that Chang’e-2 was carried into lunar orbit by a rocket, and only corrected once during the transfer from earth orbit to lunar orbit, so a large amount of fuel will be left after its mission.
He said that there are three possible “fates” for Chang’e-2 after it finishes its six-month mission -landing on the moon, flying to outer space or returning to earth, Xinhua news agency reports.
Chang’e 2 was launched on October 1, and is part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.
The spacecraft will test key technology related to the “soft-landing” of its successor Chang’e-3 lunar landing mission planned for 2013.
It will take high quality images of the Moon’s ‘Bay of Rainbows’ area where Chang’e-3 is scheduled to land.
The total expenditure for the Chang’e 2 mission is approximately 134 million dollars. (ANI)
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Tags: aerospace control, bacc, beijing, chief designer, earth orbit, exploration program, fates, images of the moon, key technology, landing on the moon, lunar exploration, lunar landing, lunar orbit, lunar probe, outer space, quality images, returning to earth, spacecraft, vice chief, xinhua news agency