Scientists Given Little Warning Of Planned Deorbit

China's first-ever mission to the moon came to a violent end Sunday, as the Chang'e-1 probe was sent crashing into the lunar surface.

As ANN reported, Chang'e blasted off in October 2007 atop a Long March 3A booster. The 2.5-ton spacecraft entered a high orbit over the moon approximately two weeks later, and began sending back images from the moon by the middle of November. Since then, little has been reported about the probe, though Chinese space officials state images retrieved by Chang'e will be instrumental in future lunar launches.

Speaking of future missions, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported the probe's impact marked the first of three phases for China's planned lunar exploration efforts. The next step will be a probe designed to practice soft-landings on the lunar surface, followed by a scientific probe and unmanned rover to collect mineral samples in 2012.

Sunday's impact came with little warning to scientists around the globe, and likely occurred at a position difficult for earthbound scientists to view over telescopes. That was a marked departure from the much-heralded September 2006 impact of the European Space Agency's SMART-1 probe, which was carefully planned so ESA scientists and others around the world could study the effects of a lunar impact.

NewScientist.com reports the SMART-1 impact came on the moon's dark side, so scientists could view the effects from the collision without glare from the sun's light. Chang'e came to its end in the middle of the lunar day.

FMI: www.cnsa.gov.cn/n615709/cindex.html