19 September 2012
Landing and enduring extreme temperatures will be the two biggest challenges facing Chang'e-3, China's third lunar probe, the Chief Scientist of China's lunar orbiter project told academics on Wednesday. Every effort is being made to ensure the soft-landing of the Chang'e-3 orbiter, said Ouyang Ziyuan on Wednesday in a report delivered at the 12th General Conference and its 23rd General Meeting of the Academy of Sciences for the Developing World being held in Tianjin, China. Plans have been made for Chang'e-3 to free-fall after being slowed down by counterforce as it approaches the lunar surface, Ouyang said. "The hope is that China completes the three-phase unmanned lunar probe projects of orbiting, landing and returning in 2017, so as to pave the way for a manned lunar mission in the future," said the Chief Scientist.
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read the abstract of the speech on page 40/41 of the Abstract Book