China has started developing its first unmanned lunar exploration craft in order to meet its own tight timetable of reaching the moon before 2007.

Work on the craft, named "Chang'e 1" after a moon traveler of ancient legend, is going smoothly, making members of the moon program confident the launch will go ahead as planned.

Construction of the ground reception system which "Chang'e 1" will send its data to is nearly completed, said Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist on the 1.4-billion-yuan (170-million-dollar) program.

State media reported earlier the "Chang'e 1" is expected to orbit the moon for at least 12 months.

Landing an unmanned spacecraft on the moon will take longer preparation and is not expected until 2010.

China gained invaluable expertise and experience from its first manned space flight in October last year, when astronaut Yang Liwei orbited the Earth 14 times.

Source: agencies