Luan Enjie, director of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), has been appointed chief commander of China's project to launch a lunar probe satellite, sources with the administration said Friday.

Sun Jiadong, a leading space expert, has been appointed chief architect of the lunar probe project, and Ouyang Ziyuan, member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has been named chief scientist.

With funding of 1.4 billion yuan (US$170 million), China's lunar probe project involves launching of a satellite to orbit the moon by 2007, said senior officials with the administration.

Sun Laiyan, deputy director of the administration, said the satellite would obtain three-dimensional images of the lunar surface, analyze the content of useful elements and materials, and prove the depth of the lunar soil and the space environment between the earth and the moon.

The satellite project is part of the country's ambitious three-stage lunar program, which would be followed by the landing of an unmanned vehicle on the moon in the second stage by 2010, and collecting samples of lunar soil with an unmanned vehicle by 2020.

Sun described the satellite project as an important step toward China's exploration of deeper space, and the moon would provide a good platform from which to explore.

A group of space officials and leading scientists in charge of the project gathered earlier this week for the first meeting on the project.

The program is named the Chang'e Program, referring to a goddess who flew to the moon in an ancient Chinese fairy tale.

(Xinhua News Agency February 27, 2004)