The 2,350-kg satellite carrying eight surveying facilities aims to make a three-dimensional survey of the moon's surface. It will also analyze the abundance and distribution of elements on the lunar surface, investigate the characteristics of the powdery soil layer on the surface, and explore the environment between the Earth and the moon.

China's moon mission will also include the landing of a rover vehicle in 2012 and the launch of another rover that will land and return to the

Earth with lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research around 2017.

The Probe Sings

All 30 melodies and songs carried on Chang'e-1 were beamed back to the Earth on February 21 to express best wishes for the Lantern Festival, the first major traditional celebration after Chinese Lunar New Year.

Space Flight Preparation Steps Up

China has completed initial ground tests for its Shenzhou 7 spaceship's airlock module and an extravehicular spacesuit, according to Yang Baohua, President of the China Academy of Space Technology.

"Both the airlock module and the extravehicular spacesuit passed the tests, which simulated the zero-gravity environment of space," Yang said.

The airlock is a pressure chamber linking the main body of the spacecraft to the outside. It is a complex piece of equipment but was not required on the previous six Shenzhou spaceships, according to Yang.

Similarly, the extravehicular spacesuit is technologically more demanding than the intra-vehicular spacesuits worn by Chinese astronauts on earlier space flight missions. It must protect astronauts from dramatic temperature changes and radiation in space, as well as provide them with food, oxygen and equipment to communicate with the spaceship, experts said.

The Shenzhou 7 manned spaceship is scheduled to lift off this October from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China's Gansu Province. Chinese astronauts are expected to conduct their first ever spacewalk during the mission.

Fourteen candidates are undergoing training for the Shenzhou 7 mission, including Yang Liwei, China's first astronaut in space who orbited the Earth aboard Shenzhou 5 in 2003, and Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, Shenzhou 6's flight crew in 2005. The final three to be on board have not yet been decided.

A successful spacewalk mission, which is expected to be broadcast live on television, will lay the foundation for a space laboratory and space station, Yang said.

Moon Portrait Accomplished

After the release of its first picture of the moon surface captured by Chang'e-1 last November, China published a photo of the moon's polar areas on January 31, the first-ever such picture taken by China.

"We have obtained pictures of good quality," said spokesperson Pei Zhaoyu of the China National Space Administration.

Chinese scientists adjusted the camera aboard the satellite on January 4 so that it could start taking photos of the moon areas above 70 degrees north or south latitude.

All facilities on Chang'e-1 have been functioning well and lunar probing missions will continue as planned, Pei said.

Chang'e-1 has been conducting explorations for nearly four months since it first entered its working orbit at an altitude of 200 km above the moon's surface on November 7, 2007.