After a successful launch China’s Chang'e-I moon probe was put on its pre-set orbit around the Earth.

A Long March-3A carrier rocket launched the lunar satellite from the Xichang space centre in the south-western province of Sichuan at 6:05 pm (1005 GMT), an event shown live by state television.

The Chang'e-I moon probe is scheduled to move away from its initial orbit around the Earth on October 31 and complete its maneuver into a lunar orbit on November 5. The satellite should relay the first pictures of the moon in late November and will continue its lunar survey for about one year, mapping the entire surface of the moon. Its tasks include acquiring 3-D images and analysing the distribution of elements on the moon's surface.

According to the Chinese scientists the Chang'e-I mission cost between 1 billion and 1.4 billion yuan ($133 billion to $187 million).

A successful mission would complete the first of three stages of China's planned lunar exploration programme.

The second phase would culminate in the landing and exploration of a lunar rover, followed around 2017 by another rover capable of returning to Earth with mineral samples.

Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist of China's lunar programme, said for The People's Daily, that China could be capable of mounting a manned mission to the moon between 2020 and 2025.

Also Ouyang was quoted as saying that lunar exploration was also "of significance to increasing China's international prestige".

"Mineral deposits, energy resources and the environment on the moon constitute a crucial sphere for humankind and, if China fails to make any inquires into this sphere, the country accordingly will not have any right to speak about this," he said.

In order to accomplish its tasks, Chang'e-I carries 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 will be 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 will be able conduct researches on the properties of regional resources and materials.

Last month Japan Space Agency (JAXA) has launched the nation’s first lunar satellite, called Kaguya.

Kaguya will start its Moon exploration in December and until then will orbit Earth twice.

The satellite is projected to descend into orbit 60 miles above the moon's surface, mapping uncharted polar areas, examining the makeup of the soil and searching for signs of ice.

The $272-million Kaguya project is the largest lunar mission - and the most sophisticated lunar exploration mission - since the Apollo program. Kaguya’s satellites will carry out 14 missions, including measuring the moon's gravity and determining its origin and evolution.

NASA is planning to launch an unmanned mission to the Moon in the fall of 2008. Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a robotic mission designed to create a new type of comprehensive, digital map of the Moon's features and resources, necessary to cost-effectively, but mostly will focus on selecting safe landing sites for future human missions. Also NASA hopes to return the Moon by 2020.