2018年CRI Moon Day special: China's lunar exploration program（在线收听）

Friday is Moon Day, which commemorates the first human landing on the Moon on July 20, 1969. To mark the occasion, let's take a look at China's lunar exploration program.

The Chang'e program

China's lunar exploration program started in 2004. It is named after the Chinese moon goddess, Chang'e.

The three-stage program includes orbiting and then landing on the Moon, and bringing samples of the lunar surface back to Earth.

Chang'e-1

China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, was launched on October 24, 2007. China was the world's fifth country to develop and launch its own lunar probe.

Orbiting 200 kilometers above the Moon, it mapped 3D images of the lunar surface, analyzed the distribution of its elements, measured the depth of the lunar soil, and explored the environment between the Earth and the Moon.

Chang'e-1 helped Chinese scientists develop the country's first complete map of the Moon's surface.

After orbiting the Moon for about 16 months, the probe made a controlled crash on the lunar surface in March 2009.

Chang'e-2

The Chang'e-2 lunar probe blasted off on October 1, 2010.

Chang'e-2 gained a full lunar map with a spatial resolution of seven meters, showing more detail of the lunar surface.

The probe also took pictures of the Sinus Iridum, also known as the Bay of Rainbows, of the proposed landing site of Chang'e-3.

After completing its main tasks, Chang'e-2 flew to the L2 point of the Sun-Earth system, to conduct scientific experiments where the gravity from the Sun and Earth balances the orbital motion of a satellite.

In December 2012, the probe successfully flew by and captured images of the Toutatis asteroid.

The probe has now become a man-made asteroid in the solar system.

Chang'e-3

Chang'e-3 was launched on December 2, 2013. It included a lander and a moon rover called Yutu (Jade Rabbit).

It touched down softly at Sinus Iridum 12 days later, making China the third country, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

The lander and the rover took photos of each other as the rover circled the lander.

The probe developed a geological profile of the Moon, and recorded the geological structure 330 meters beneath the lunar surface. In doing so, it discovered a new kind of lunar rock.

An optical telescope installed on the lander conducted observations in the ultraviolet band of celestial bodies above the North Pole of the Moon.

Another instrument, an ultraviolet camera, obtained images of the Earth's plasma layer, which could help to better forecast space weather and ensure the safety of communications on Earth, as well as between Earth and spacecraft.

Test craft for Chang'e-5

China launched an experimental spacecraft on October 24, 2014 to test technologies to be used in the Chang'e-5, which is expected to bring samples of the Moon back to Earth.

The spacecraft, comprised of a re-entry capsule and a service module, flew half an orbit around the Moon. After the re-entry and service capsules separated, the re-entry capsule approached the Earth's atmosphere at about 11.2 kilometers per second.

The return capsule touched down at the designated landing area in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on November 1, 2014.

The service module flew back to orbit the Moon for further tests, and reached the L2 point of the Earth-Moon system to conduct experiments.

Chang'e-4

China launched a relay satellite named Queqiao (Magpie Bridge) on May 21, 2018 to set up a communication link between the Earth and the Moon's far side.

The satellite entered the Halo orbit around the second Lagrangian (L2) point of the Earth-Moon system on June 14.

It will play a vital role in China's Chang'e-4 lunar probe, which is expected to be the first-ever soft-landing probe on the Moon's far side later this year.

Chang'e-5

China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe in 2019, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to the Earth.

The Chang'e-5 lunar probe will be very complex, containing four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander.

After fulfilling the three steps of its lunar probe program - orbiting, landing and returning - China will conduct further exploration of the Moon, including landing and probing the polar regions of the Moon.