Beijing, Jan 06: China will kick off its lunar probe programme this year, and plans to send an unmanned space probe into orbit around the moon before 2007, a top space official has said.
As per plans, China will try to send a space probe to land on the moon by 2010, and send a probe to examine the lunar surface and bring back mineral samples by 2020.
At the same time, he said China has no plans to send a space mission to Mars since the country did not have the required technology and equipment to do so.
Though China has been doing research on Mars, it currently has no plan to send a space probe to the planet, he said.
He termed as "inaccurate" recent reports that China plans to send a spacecraft to probe Mars before 2020.
China's space technology and equipment is not yet up to the task of probing Mars, the official said, adding that more efforts should be made to improve scientific research and infrastructure in this respect.
China sent its first successful manned space mission in mid-October last year becoming the first Asian country to do so. Beijing has also become a member of an exclusive club of space faring nations that had only two members so far {the United States and Russia.
Bureau Report
