China publishes first moon picture

The first picture captured by Chang'e-1 was unveiled by Premier Wen Jiabao today at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC).

The image showed a rough moon surface with scattered round craters of varying sizes. BACC sources said that the area covered by the picture was about 460 km in length and 280 km in width is located within a 54 to 70 degrees latitude and 57 to 83 degrees east longitude.

The area, the same sources said, is part of the moon's highland.

The picture was a composite of 19 images, each covering a width of 60 kilometers on the moon's surface. The first picture taken by CCD cameras aboard Chang'e-1 was the area on the far right.

The images were collected on Nov 20 and 21 and processed into a three-dimensional picture after they were transmitted, the Xinhua news report said.

"Chinese people's dream of flying to the moon for more than 1,000 years has started to materialize," Xinhua quoted Wen as saying. The Chinese premier also said that the success showed not only the country's rising national strength and technical innovation capability but also elevated China's international status.

China, he said, has joined the select group of nations capable of deep-space exploration.

The lunar probe was the third milestone in China's space exploration, following the successes of man-made satellites and manned space flights.

China has a three-step moon exploration plan which will culminate in a moon landing and the launch of a moon rover around 2012. Lunar soil and stone samples for scientific research are also planned to be collected by 2017, Xinhua said.