China's Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP)

     The moon is the only natural satellite of the Earth. It has a tranquil, bright and clear appearance in the eyes of people on the Earth. Because of its thin brilliance that brings lovers with quiet warmth in the night, it is likened to a jade plate or a lovely and graceful woman.

      Based on the current conditions, we think that a realistic approach should be taken in selecting our goals. The guiding principle should be to focus on “automatic exploring” at first, in doing so to gradually accumulate knowledge and experience step by step, and to timely improve our launch vehicle capacity to meet the requirements of future deep space exploration efforts. By this way we have formed China’s lunar exploration program that features three milestones, i.e. “orbiting”, “landing” and “returning”.

 Orbiting – Chang’e-1, a lunar orbiting spacecraft, will be launched.

 The Five Major Systems of the Chang’e-1 Project

     Spacecraft Platform: The platform is based on the one used for the DFH-3 communications satellite. Mature technologies and experiences from related satellite missions have been fully inherited and utilized. In terms of technical configuration, Chang’e-1 is actually a new spacecraft. And we have had a stronger sense of this along with the progress of the development work.
      Launch Vehicle: The LM-3A launch vehicle, which is primarily designed to launch satellites based on the DFH-3 platform, has been selected to launch Chang’e-1. LM-3A has succeeded in all of its nine flights, seven of which have been made for satellites based on the DFH-3 platform. For the Chang’e-1 mission, the launch vehicle has been adapted in many areas. Particularly, major efforts have been made to improve its reliability, with redundant designs used on a number of critical links.
      Launch Site System: Chang’e-1 will be launched at Xichang Satellite Launch Center, a launch site for China’s geosynchronous satellites. The launch center has been modified in many areas to adapt it to the requirements of a lunar mission, especially in safety and reliability.
      TT&C System: The TT&C System has been formed based on China’s existing TT&C bases and instrumentation ships for space missions. To improve orbital measurement accuracy and provide redundant means for TT&C, astronomical Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) will be used for the first time in China to provide right ascension and declination needed for orbital measurement and determination of Chang’e-1.
      Ground Application System: The so-called Ground Application System refers to the system responsible for Chang’e-1 downlink data reception, science data processing and study and in-orbit operation of the spacecraft.