Chang´e 1 to fulfill 4 scientific objectives

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This rock from the moon weighs half a gram. It's a sample collected by a US astronaut during the Apollo 17 mission in 1972. It was later given to China as a gift. Although a moon-landing is not part of the mission for Chang'e One, it will still manage to survey the distribution of elements on the lunar surface through other means. The satellite's probing facilities include a stereo camera and interferometer, an imager, a gamma and x-ray spectrometer, a laser altimeter, a microwave detector, a high energy solar particle detector and a low energy ion detector. They will capture radials from the moon, investigate the characteristics of lunar surface and search for correlations between the earth and the moon environment.

Ouyang Ziyuan said, "We are going to examine the thickness of the soil layer of the moon, which foreign countries haven't done before. As far as I know, Japan and India also have plans to explore the circumstances between the earth and the moon."

According to the project plan, all eight probing facilities on Chang'e One will be in operation after the 18th of November.

Editor:Zhang Ning