The first lunar probe launched by China is an evident display of the country’s technological prowess and ambition. The vessel is on a one-year mission to create three-dimensional maps of the moon’s surface and analyze lunar dust with the use of stereo cameras and X-ray spectro-meters.

This is only the first phase of a lunar program that eventually aims to land an unmanned rover by 2012 and a man on the moon by 2020. This development unfolds amidst the new space race happening among Asian countries. Japan and India are both highly involved in their own lunar mission plans.