China to launch Chang´e Two in 2009

A senior official of China's lunar exploration project center says the country will launch the Chang'e Two satellite next year.

It will serve as a sister satellite of the Chang'e One and will also be sent to space by a Long March 3A carrier rocket. But this time, Chang'e Two will carry an improved camera that can take clearer pictures. And more advanced probing equipment will be able to collect more accurate lunar data.

Chang'e Two will have a working orbit with a fixed altitude of a hundred kilometers from the moon, half of Chang'e One's. The two probes are part of China's first step in its three-stage moon mission. In the second phase, the mission will launch and land a lunar rover vehicle around 2012. Ultimately, the mission will land another rover in 2017, which will eventually return to Earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research.