China officially celebrated its successful launch of the
country's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, on Wednesday.
It announced success of the first stage of its lunar probe
program on Nov. 26, when the first moon picture captured by
Chang'e-1 was published.
Here are some facts Chinese scientists take pride in, revealed
at the grand ceremony for the occasion held in Beijing on Wednesday
morning.
-- It's the first time for China to conduct direct probe into an
outer-space celestial body other than the earth.
-- Working staff with the probe project are on average aged
below 35, youngest ever in China's space history.
-- Chinese scientists succeeded in accurate remote control of a
satellite about 400,000 kilometers away from the earth, with error
rate played down from 1.7 percent to 0.03 percent for orbit
control.
-- The project realized seamless connection of domestic space
control network with astro-observation network and that of European
Space Agency, which provided support in remote control of
Chang'e-1.
-- China has acquired up-to-date technologies for control and
navigation of satellites with high precision as well as advanced
technologies for long-distance remote control and satellite thermal
control without a deep space antenna.
-- Chinese scientists built, with self-developed design and
technologies, two giant antennae with diameters at 40 meters and 50
meters, the largest ever in China's history, to receive data sent
back by Chang'e-1.
(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2007)