Ambitious new space power China will start developing a lunar probe satellite next month in preparation for an unmanned mission in 2007, state media said yesterday.
The satellite will orbit the moon, but the next step in China's space program will be to develop a craft that can actually touch down on the lunar surface, Xinhua news agency reported, citing Ye Peijian (葉培建), the satellite's designer.
"After the lunar flight, China will carry out soft landing exploration and inspection missions on the moon," Xinhua quoted him as saying.
"A basic space flight engineering system, including one for moon soft landing probes and moon surface inspectors, should be established," he said.
Keenly aware of the military, scientific and commercial benefits of space know-how, China has been aggressively pursuing space exploration for a number of decades.
The emerging space power carried out its maiden manned flight in October 2003.
Beijing plans to launch its next manned space mission this year in which two astronauts will circle the Earth for five to six days.
China's space program was set up in 1992.
The program has grown to employ tens of thousands of scientific, manufacturing and planning personnel in more than 3,000 centers.
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