Article Posted on : - Dec 20, 2010

BEIJING (PTI): China Monday celebrated the successful launch of its second lunar probe Chang'e-II, which is regarded as a trial run to land a rover on the moon surface in 2013.

Members of the Standing Committee of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee's Political Bureau including President Hu Jintao, Wu Bangguo, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, He Guoqiang and Zhou Yongkang attended the meeting to celebrate the success, official media reported.

Chang'e-II was blasted off on October 1 after which it entered its long-term lunar orbit on November 3.

It has already sent the pictures of moon's Sinus Iridum, or Bay of Rainbows, where China plans to land rover in 2013 to probe Moon’s surface.

The lunar probe named after Chinese mythical moon goddess is currently orbiting 100 km above the moon taking pictures of the moon surface with a high resolution camera.

Chang'e-II's main mission is to test necessary technologies and continuing to transfer data back to the earth for further research before eventually landing on the moon as an experiment for future lunar probes.

According to the new road map, China plans to send a probe to Mars by 2013 and to Venus by 2015, besides setting up its own manned space station.