Chang'e-2 spacecraft enters working orbit
After completing its third and final braking, the unmanned lunar probe of China has a 100-km high lunar orbit.
Caption: The Chang'e-2 spacecraft was launched on Oct 1.
BEIJING (BNS): China’s Chang’e-2 spacecraft has successfully entered its designated working orbit after completing its third and final braking.
The unmanned lunar probe entered the 118-minute, round working orbit after completing its third and final brake on Saturday which changed its apolune (farthest point from the Moon) from 1,825 km to about 100 km, according to a report in the China Daily which quoted the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
The satellite will begin scientific exploration activities soon, it said.
Chang’e-2 was launched by the Long-March-3C carrier rocket on October 1.
The spacecraft will test key technology related to the “soft-landing” of its successor Chang'e-3 lunar landing mission planned for 2013. It will take high quality images of the Moon’s ‘Bay of Rainbows’ area where Chang'e-3 is scheduled to land.
The unmanned lunar probe entered the 118-minute, round working orbit after completing its third and final brake on Saturday which changed its apolune (farthest point from the Moon) from 1,825 km to about 100 km, according to a report in the China Daily which quoted the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).
The satellite will begin scientific exploration activities soon, it said.
Chang’e-2 was launched by the Long-March-3C carrier rocket on October 1.
The spacecraft will test key technology related to the “soft-landing” of its successor Chang'e-3 lunar landing mission planned for 2013. It will take high quality images of the Moon’s ‘Bay of Rainbows’ area where Chang'e-3 is scheduled to land.
