Chang'e-2 sends data from 1.7m km away

Updated: 2011-09-21 07:11

(Xinhua)

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BEIJING - China's second moon orbiter Chang'e-2 has been orbiting the second Lagrange Point (L2) in a stable manner and has sent back the first batch of data from outer space about 1.7 million km away from Earth.

The orbiter is scheduled to travel around the L2 orbit till the end of 2012, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

It will carry out exploration activities, such as monitoring of the high energy particles and solar winds, around the L2.

Chang'e-2 entered L2's orbit, where gravity from the sun and Earth balances the orbital motion of a satellite, in late August and has been operating stably for 26 days.

It is the first time for China to send a spacecraft to a place 1.7 million km away from Earth.