With a controlled crash-landing on the surface of the moon, China's first lunar probe, the Chang'e-I, ended its 16-month mission on Sunday.
According to Chinese official media agency, Xinhua, Chang'e-I began to reduce speed from 3:36 pm (0736 GMT) and landed on the lunar surface some 40 minutes later.

Chang'e-I, which was launched on October 24, 2007, acquired 3-D images of the moon and it has analyzed the distribution of elements on the moon's surface.

In order to accomplish its tasks, Chang'e-I carried six kinds of payloads, including a total of 25 devices arranged in eight instruments. Among these instruments, the CCD optical system will use a series of three 2-dimensional original images of a target area, taken before, during and after flyover of the spacecraft, to reconfigure a 3-dimensional image of the lunar surface.

This demands a higher accuracy in attitude control and orbital determination.
The Interferometer Spectrometer Imager is a camera that obtains images based on the fact that different objects have different spectrum properties. It was used to perform multi-spectral remote sensing of the lunar surface. By filling spectral information into the digital lunar terrains obtained through stereo imaging, scientists are able to conduct researches on the properties of regional resources and materials.

The landing of Chang'e-I was controlled by two observation stations in China's eastern Chinese port of Qingdao and its far western city of Kashgar.
China plans to launch a lunar lander in 2012 and a third satellite designed to reach the moon and bring back mineral samples in 2017.
Last year, the Chinese astronauts have safely returned to Earth after a three-day mission that included China's first spacewalk.

In 2000, China revealed plans for a 20-year program to build an integrated ground-space network for space exploration and manned space research, including a permanent space laboratory by 2020.

China first sent an astronaut into space in 2005, becoming the third nation to do so after the United States and Russia. According to the Chinese scientists the Chang'e-I mission cost between 1 billion and 1.4 billion yuan ($133 billion to $187 million).