BEIJING - Sending probes to the moon and Mars are among the possibilities China is exploring as it ponders its contributions to international efforts to explore deep space.
The vice president of the Chinese Academy of Space and Technology said China was conducting engineering feasibility studies to send spacecraft to explore the moon and the Red Planet.
"The primary goal of international scientists is to enable mankind to land in the moon again and establish a permanent base there," Yuan Jiajun was quoted as saying by the Xinhua news agency as China announced its ambitions today.
Yuan did not specify how China could contribute to efforts to colonize the moon, but Xinhua said that China Aerospace Corp., the country's national space agency, had experience in building rockets and working with satellites. Yuan said that has laid a solid foundation for joining efforts to explore regions beyond Earth's orbit.
Chinese space researchers were working on a space-based telescope to watch the sun and had drawn up a twin satellite system to supplement the European Space Agency's proposed Cluster-2 programme to relay information about atmospheric conditions.
A Chinese space official said earlier this week that China was hoping to put a man in space and launch a lunar probe early in the next century. No details were given of the manned spaceflight program, which has been on the drawing boards for years.
Analysts say China is seeking to lay the groundwork for future cooperation with big space-faring powers such as the United States, Europe, Russia, and Japan.
Earlier this week, US-based Loral Space & Communications signed an agreement with China to have China provide launching services for its satellites. The country will conduct five launches for Loral between now and 2002, using its "Long March 3B" rocket.
