[meteorite-list] China Plans to Launch Chang'e 5 in 2017

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.ianslive.in/index.php?param=news%2FChina_plans_to_launch_Change_5_in_2017-406237

China plans to launch Chang'e 5 in 2017
IANS Live
December 16, 2013

Beijing: China plans to launch lunar probe Chang'e 5 in 2017, the State 
Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence 
announced on Monday.

"The development of Chang'e 5 is proceeding smoothly," the administration's 
spokesman Wu Zhijian said at a press conference here.

The just-concluded Chang'e 3 mission marked completion of the second phase 
of the country's lunar programme, which includes orbiting, landing, and 
returning to Earth, reports Xinhua.

The lunar programme will enter the next stage of unmanned sampling and 
returning, which will include Chang'e 5 and 6 missions, said Wu.

"The programme's third phase will be more difficult because many breakthroughs 
must be made in key technologies such as moon surface takeoff, sampling 
encapsulation, rendezvous, and docking in lunar orbit, and high-speed 
Earth re-entry, which are all new to China," Wu added.

As the back-up probe of the Chang'e 3, Chang'e 4 will be adapted to verify 
technologies for Chang'e 5, according to Wu.

China's Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 missions were launched in 2007 and 2010, 
respectively.

Chang'e 2, launched Oct 1, 2010, is now about 65 million km from Earth 
and is conducting a long-term mission to verify China's deep-space tracking 
and control systems.