China says it has begun developing a satellite to orbit the moon by 2007.

Officials say construction and preparations for the satellite, "Change No.1", are well underway.

The next step is to set up antenna in China to receive the vast amounts of data sent back from the moon.

Beijing and Kunming, the capital city of southwest China's Yunnan province, will be the two bases for the antenna.

After orbiting the moon, China's next research object is Mars.

Source: CRIENGLISH.com