Chang’e-2 enters 12 hour lunar orbit
China’s second unmanned lunar probe Chang’e-2, completed its first braking Wednesday, which decelerated the spacecraft and successfully allowed it to enter a 12-hour orbit, according to the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC). Chang’e-2, following instructions from the center, started the first braking at 11:06 a.m. and entered the 12-hour elliptical moon orbit 32 minutes later. It was the first braking for Chang’e-2. The space- probe needs to brake another two times before it can enter the designed 118-minute working orbit. The braking “laid a solid foundation” for Chang’e-2 to carry out scientific explorations in its final orbit, BACC said in a press release.
Compared with Chang’e-1, it is more challenging for Chang’e-2 to brake as it must do so at a closer distance to the moon and at a higher speed. A Long-March-3C carrier rocket carried Chang’e-2 into space blasting off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, at about 7 p.m. Friday.
To acquire more detailed moon data, Chang’e-2 will enter a lower lunar orbit about 100 km above the surface, compared with the 200-km altitude of Chang’e-1, according to the control center. Before its first braking, the lunar probe had traveled nearly 350,000 km.
Cheng'e - 2 enters 12 hour lunar borbit
In other news today a Long March 4B rocket carrying two satellites of the “Shijian VI-04” group lifted off from the launch pad in Taiyuan, capital of north China’s Shanxi Province, Oct. 6, 2010. The satellites which have entered their space orbits will carry out probes on space environment and radiation and conduct space science experiments, according to the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.
The k2p blog 