Hot universe race in Asia

The space race in Asia heated up on October 24 when China successfully launched its first moon probe.

China's long journey, at a cost of $ 184 million, kicked off a program to bring unmanned ships to the lunar surface in 2012 and finally bring people to the moon around 2020.

The launch of Hang Nga I, with the task of exploring and mapping the lunar surface, took place after Japan launched its first moon probe in September. India also plans to launch one. Similar ships next year.

Hang Nga I took off at 17:05 (Hanoi time). President Hu Jintao sent his personal congratulations after this successful launch. China has described the moon probe as the third largest landmark in the country's space program, after developing missiles and satellites since the 1970s and putting people on orbit in 2003 and 2005. .

Truong Chinh 3A rocket of China brought Hang Nga I to the launch pad (Photo: VNN)

"Flying to the moon is China's long-term dream ," commented Xinhua. Before the launch, one of the leading scientists in China's moon program, Ouyang Ziyuan, also pointed out a larger message that the mission wanted to send to the Chinese people and the world: '' Moon Exploration demonstrates the power of both our people, enhancing China's international prestige and national unity '' .

To show Chinese pride, the national anthem and 31 other patriotic songs were uploaded to this moon probe (also known as satellite). Later, satellites can transmit these songs back to China.

In recent years, China's space program has made great strides, in parallel with spectacular economic growth . China successfully introduced Yang Liwei astronaut into orbit in 2003, becoming the third country in the world after the Soviet Union and the United States to bring people into space. The third human trajectory flight is scheduled to take place at the end of 2008 with three astronauts. During this flight, they will step out to the airship.

On September 14, Japan surpassed China by launching this country's first sunrise moon probe - an important step to bring people to the moon by 2020. Despite time. Both countries' portions of the moon are the same, but some Chinese officials have tried to ease the race.

'' Japan began to study the moon exploration much earlier than we did, so we always insisted that with the release of Hang Nga I, we did not want to talk about who took the lead '', Zhang Jianqi of the Chinese space program said. Hang Nga I plans to leave Earth's orbit on October 31, entering the moon's orbit on October 5 and passing the first images of the moon back to Earth by the end of November.

According to Rene Oosterlinc, spokesperson for the European Space Agency, the race to bring people to the moon, including the United States involved, to establish permanent bases on it as a first step toward stellar exploration. Fire. China's Chang'e satellite mainly captures three-dimensional images of the moon's surface to assess its ability to land, based on it.

Minh Son (synthesized)