Chang'e-1, the country's first moon orbiter,
arrived at its furthest point from Earth - some 120,000 km - at
5:40?PM yesterday on a new orbit, setting a distance record
for China's space industry.
"The previous record holder was the satellite Tance-1, or
Exploration-1, which was launched in 2003. Its apogee (maximum
distance from earth) was nearly 80,000 km," Hao Xifan, deputy head
of China's Lunar Exploration Project office, said.
The orbiter's ultraviolet image sensors began working at around
7 am yesterday, gathering information on both Earth and moon.
This flight marks the first time an ultraviolet image sensor has
been activated on a satellite, though a few countries have tested
them on the ground, Wang Yejun, chief engineer with the Beijing
Aerospace Control Center, said.
Chang'e-1 lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in
Sichuan Province last Wednesday. It successfully transferred to a
48-hour orbit with an apogee of 120,000 km, up from its former
70,000 km, at 6:01 pm on Monday.
The lunar probe will stay on that orbit until later this
afternoon, when it is expected to enter the Earth-moon transfer
orbit and its seventh time circling Earth, Hao said.
He said he was concerned about the orbit transfer, a critical
point that may determine whether the satellite can fly to the moon
successfully, since there is only one orbit entry point.
Hao said Chang'e-1 is mankind's 119th lunar probe since 1958.
Just 59 have succeeded in their missions. Of these, only the
European Space Agency succeeded in its first moon-orbiting
mission.
(China Daily October 31, 2007)