Zee Media Bureau
Beijing: Chang`e-2, China`s second unmanned lunar probe, has traveller more than 70 million km into deep space in good condition, making the longest voyage of any Chinese spacecraft till date, said a senior engineer on Friday.
Chang`e 2 was launched on October 1, 2010 aboard a Long March 3C rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Xichang, Sichuan. A follow-up to the Chang`e-1 lunar probe, Chang`e 2 was launched to verify crucial technologies for Chang`e-3, the country`s third lunar carrying a moon rover that was launched on December 2, 2013.
It set off from its moon orbit for outer space in June 2011 after finishing all of its tasks.
The spacecraft is expected to travel as far as 300 million km from the earth, after which it will return to perigee of about 7 million km from the earth around 2029, Xinhua reported citing Zhou Jianliang, chief engineer of the Beijing Aerospace Control Centre.
It is estimated that the probe will reach 100 million km from earth in July this year.
The control centre has made many breakthroughs in fuel use and orbital decay technologies, which will boost China`s future deep space exploration, Zhou said.
With Agency Inputs
