Three obstacles lie ahead of lunar probe: project chief

Luan Enjie, chief commander of China's lunar exploration project and dean of the Information Science School of the CAS Graduate University, said the Chang'e project needs to overcome three obstacles before it can set for the moon in 2007 as scheduled.

Luan said the first obstacle is the orbit. "We have never been to the moon, which is 380,000 kilometers away. It is so far away that we have never been there."

The second obstacle of the Chang'e project is monitoring and control. "We must be able to see and hear once we get there. This is a great test for us, and for China's space probing capability."

The third obstacle concerns the environment of the moon, said Luan. The environment on the moon is different from that of the earth. As far as temperature is concerned it can range from 130 degrees centigrade to minus 170 degrees centigrade with 300 degrees' discrepancy. It is a great test of the equipment needed for the scientific research.

Luan went on to explain that there are three steps for human lunar exploration, that is, "probe", "landing" and "station". China's current project is the first step, which in turn is divided into three smaller steps, namely, "orbiting", "descent" and "return". The existing three obstacles are problems in the first phase of China's lunar exploration project that demand urgent solution.

By People's Daily Online