Chinanews, Beijing, Nov. 29 – China's first moon probe satellite Chang'e No.1 will complete its installation and trial test by the end of this year. In February next year, the man-made satellite will be dispatched from the factory to be ready for the launch, the Beijing Star Daily reported.

 

The announcement was made by Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's lunar exploration program, when he attended an activity on Tuesday.

 

He told reporters that 2006 is a critical year for the first phase of the Chang'e program. Through one year's work, the satellite has met the technological requirements in all the key aspects. The major systems of the satellite are currently under trial test and by next year, the satellite will be able to carry out its tasks.

 

Chinese lunar program is divided into three stages: sending a satellite to fly around the moon to conduct a comprehensive and overall research; making the satellite land and cruise on the moon; and sending it to retrieve some samples from the moon. As the first stage of the deep space exploration, China plans to launch its first satellite to fly around the moon in 2007, to realize the two tasks in the following stages in 2010 and 2020.