China's second lunar probe, the Chang'e-2, blasts off at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, shortly before 7pm yesterday. Chang'e-2 directly entered the earth-moon transfer orbit without orbiting the earth first, a "major breakthrough of the rocket design, as it saves energy used by the satellite and speeds up the journey to the lunar orbit." It is expected to take about 112 hours, or almost five days, to reach its lunar orbit, faster than the 12 days taken by the Chang'e-1 three years ago. The launch marked the second phase of a three-step mission which will culminate in a soft-landing on the moon.

CHINA launched its second unmanned lunar probe, Chang'e-2, yesterday, inaugurating the second phase of a three-step mission which will culminate in a soft-landing on the moon.

At 6:59:57pm, the satellite blasted off on a Long March-3C carrierrocket from No. 2 launch tower at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

"Chang'e-2 lays the foundation for a soft-landing on the moon and further exploration of outer space," said Wu Weiren, chief designer of China's lunar orbiter project.

Chang'e-2 entered the orbit with a perigee of 200 kilometers and apogee of 380,000 kilometers as scheduled. There it separated from the carrierrocket.

It was the first time a Chinese lunar probe directly entered the earth-moon transfer orbit without orbiting the earth first.

"It is a major breakthrough of the rocket design, as it saves energy used by the satellite and speeds up the journey to the lunar orbit," said Pang Zhihao, a researcher with the China Academy of Space Technology.

The lunar satellite is expected to take almost five days to arrive at its lunar orbit, faster than the Chang'e-1's 12 days three years ago.

"It travels faster and closer to the moon, and it will capture clear pictures," Wu said.

The control center declared the launch a success, after the solar panels of the lunar probe were unfolded and the satellite began to use solar energy for power.

Thousands of people witnessed the event from a venue 4 kilometers from the launch pad. Residents at downtown Xichang fired fireworks to celebrate the launch.

Chang'e-2, named after a legendary Chinese goddess of moon, will orbit 100 kilometers above the moon. The satellite will be maneuvered into an orbit just 15 kilometer above the surface and, at that point, Chang'e-2 will take pictures of the planned landing area of the Chang'e-3.

Total expenditure for the Chang'e-2 mission is about 900 million yuan (US$134.3 million).

The final destiny of Chang'e-2, which has a designed life of six months, had not been decided, Wu said. It may crash on the moon for further experiments, fly into outer space, or return to an earth orbit, Wu said.

Flying to the moon is the nation's long cherished dream, with Chang'e worshipped as the "moon lady" for thousands of years. Legend has it that she floated toward the sky and finally landed on the moon after taking a bottle of elixir, where she became a goddess accompanied by a jade rabbit.

China launched its first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, in October 2007.

After orbiting for 494 days and a controlled crash on the lunar surface, Chang'e-1 sent back 1.37 terabytes of data, producing China's first complete moon picture.

China's three-stage moon mission will lead to a moon landing and launch of a moon rover around 2012 in the second phase. In the third, another rover will land on the moon and return to earth with soil and stone samples for scientificresearch around 2017.

China has no plan or timetable for a manned moon landing for now, Wu said.

China became the third country after Russia and the United States to send someone into space in 2003.

Two more manned space missions followed with the most recent in 2008 involving China's first space walk.

• province [´prɔvins] n.省；领域；范围 (初中英语单词)
• shortly [´ʃɔ:tli] ad.立刻，马上；不久 (初中英语单词)
• yesterday [´jestədi] n.&ad.昨天；前不久 (初中英语单词)
• transfer [træns´fə:] v.&n.迁移；调动；转让 (初中英语单词)
• energy [´enədʒi] n.活力，精力；能力 (初中英语单词)
• mission [´miʃən] n.代表团；使馆vt.派遣 (初中英语单词)
• foundation [faun´deiʃən] n.建立；基金；地基 (初中英语单词)
• project [prə´dʒekt, ´prɔdʒekt] v.设计；投掷 n.计划 (初中英语单词)
• academy [ə´kædəmi] n.专科学校；学会；协会 (初中英语单词)
• capture [´kæptʃə] vt.&n.捕获；俘获；夺取 (初中英语单词)
• celebrate [´selibreit] vt.庆祝；表扬；赞美 (初中英语单词)
• goddess [´gɔdis] n.女神 (初中英语单词)
• rabbit [´ræbit] n.兔子，野兔 (初中英语单词)
• scientific [,saiən´tifik] a.科学(上)的 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• launch [lɔ:ntʃ] vt.发动 n.发射；汽艇 (高中英语单词)
• carrier [´kæriə] n.搬运工人；托架 (高中英语单词)
• southwest [,sauθ´west] n.&a.西南(方)(的) (高中英语单词)
• exploration [,eksplɔ:´reiʃən] n.探索；探险；考察 (高中英语单词)
• expenditure [ik´spenditʃə] n.消费；经费；费用 (高中英语单词)
• destiny [´destini] n.命运 (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid] a.明显的；决定的 (高中英语单词)
• downtown [,daun´taun] ad.&a.在商业区 (英语四级单词)
• satellite [´sætəlait] n.(人造)卫星；随从 (英语六级单词)
• rocket [´rɔkit] n.火箭；火箭发动机 (英语六级单词)
• culminate [´kʌlmineit] vi.达到顶点 (英语六级单词)
• designer [di´zainə] n.设计者 (英语六级单词)
• fireworks [´faiəwə:ks] n.爆竹，焰火 (英语六级单词)
• kilometer [´kilə,mi:tə] n.=kilometre 公里 (英语六级单词)
• landing [´lændiŋ] n.登陆；降落；楼梯平台 (英语六级单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)