Moon Society: Moon Society Lunar Mission Update #1: "Moon Society Lunar Missions Update - #1, April 2004
Prepared by Arthur Smith

The past few months have seen greatly increased attention to the Moon, accompanied by an upsurge in mission proposals and announcements. One trigger seems to have been China's success with their first Shenzhou manned mission, and subsequent publicity from Luan Enjie and Ouyang Ziyuan, respectively director of China's space agency (CNSA) and chief scientist of China's lunar programs. China's plans for a lunar program have gradually trickled out over the past couple of years, but only recently in much detail. The Chang'e program as now proposed will consist of three robotic phases: orbiter (launching December 2006), lander (by 2010), and sample return (before 2020), followed by a human landing in 2020. News reports recently announced a robotic rover as one mission in the lander phase, scheduled for 2012. "
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