 |
 |
||
 |
|
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
||||||||
 |
Planetary News: Chang'e (2007)First Image of the Moon by Chinese Lunar OrbiterNovember 27 2007 The first image of the Moon delivered by China’s Chang’e 1 orbiter was unveiled by the Chinese premier Wen Jiabao at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC). The image is a mosaic of 19 images taken by the spacecraft on November 20 and 21, and covers an area of 460 kilometers by 280 kilometers. It was taken by the spacecraft’s stereo CCD camera from 200 kilometers above the surface at a resolution of 120 meters per pixel. Chang’e 1 was launched on October 24 on board a Long March 3A rocket, and took 15 days to travel the distance to the Moon and settle into its circular orbit. It is China’s first Lunar orbiter, with a lander and a sample return mission planned for the coming years. Chang’e 1 follows closely on the heels of Japan’s Lunar mission, Kaguya, which was launched six weeks earlier. India is planning its own Chandrayaan 1 Lunar launch next spring. All three Asian missions form a central part of the International Lunar Decade, which was proposed and advocated by The Planetary Society.
|
||||||
 |
 |
||||||
[ what is this? ]