China will send a manned craft into space before 2005 and
preparations for the mission to the moon exploration are under way,
a senior space official said yesterday in Beijing.
China successfully launched unmanned spaceships "Shenzhou" in 1999
and this year.
A
leading scientist said several unmanned spaceship projections will
be necessary prior to the launch.
"We must be sure that the astronauts are 100 percent safe in outer
space after launching," said Liang Sili, of the Chinese Academy of
Sciences.
Sun Laiyan, vice-director of the China National Space
Administration, said the state has forged ahead with the objectives
of its moon exploration plan but did not go into detail.
China plans to launch three satellites for weather monitoring,
oceanic study and earth resource exploration next year.
These are part of the country's five-year (2001-05) blueprint for
the space industry.
"China has put the plan for developing the industry on the table,"
said Sun.
Sun said the state will integrate its space industry further into
the world market to yield more social and economic returns.
Cooperation between China and the European Union, Russia,
developing countries such as Brazil and other space powers will be
strengthened as a result.
China will further its cooperation with the EU for progress of the
"double star" project.
It
is designed to observe and study the global response of the
geospace plasma environment to solar activities, interplanetary
disturbances and the dynamic process in the boundary layer of the
magnetopause.
The state has earmarked vast funds for the protection of the space
environment and the reduction of space debris resulting from space
activities.
Sun addressed more than 100 officials, experts and entrepreneurs
with a keynote speech at yesterday's ceremony marking the
anniversary of the issuing of the white paper "China's Space
Activities."
The State Council Information Center last year issued the white
paper in which China outlined the state's achievements in space
technology in the past 40 years, and the future objectives of the
next 10 and 20 years.
"The five-year plan is based on the white paper," Sun said.
Experts said China should seize the chance to expand its
application of space technology.
"For mankind in the 21st century, space application will become as
essential as electricity and oil in the 19th century," said Liang
Sili, the state's leading space scientist.
"We are just in the first year of the new century and my prophecy
will come true."
Liang suggested China should step up its efforts in constructing
infrastructure in outer space to facilitate information exchange
among different satellites and ground stations.
"I
particularly advise the country to develop its own global
navigation satellite system, which will benefit the country and the
world in many ways," Liang said.
(China
Daily November 23, 2001)