Chinese Music From Outer Space.
China's first satellite to orbit the moon planned for launch next year will beam more than images and data of the moon back to earth. It will also transmit back Chinese songs selected by the general public, Xinhua News Agency said Friday.
The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence has begun seeking recommendations for 30 songs to be taken on board the satellite that will circle the moon for a year. The lunar orbiter is the first step in China's ambition to put a man on the moon under a programme dubbed Change Project (pronounced Chang-Er) named after a legendary fairy who flew to the moon.
Earlier, state media reported the satellite, costing 1.4 billion yuan (RM636 million) to be called Change-1, will be launched between April and June next year. It will provide 3D images of the moon surface, analyse usable materials, probe the thickness of lunar soil and monitor the environment between the earth and the moon. The next phase is to land a lunar rover on the moon by 2010. This will be followed by another unmanned expedition by 2020 to collect samples of lunar soil.
Preparations to send astronauts to the moon will begin only after these expeditions. In 2003, China celebrated its first manned space flight by solo astronaut Yang Liwei who orbited earth for 21 hours. Last year, a similiar space flight took off with another two astronauts and they returned successfully after five days.
I wonder what songs will be transmitted. Not all martial songs and slow military marches I hope! Perhaps some enterprising soul should start a contest to see if the songs guessed here tally with the final selection in China. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill, Beijing might even transmit a few songs from fellow Asian countries. Who knows, perhaps we could get to hear Siti Nurhaliza from space, courtesy of Chinese technology!
The Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence has begun seeking recommendations for 30 songs to be taken on board the satellite that will circle the moon for a year. The lunar orbiter is the first step in China's ambition to put a man on the moon under a programme dubbed Change Project (pronounced Chang-Er) named after a legendary fairy who flew to the moon.
Earlier, state media reported the satellite, costing 1.4 billion yuan (RM636 million) to be called Change-1, will be launched between April and June next year. It will provide 3D images of the moon surface, analyse usable materials, probe the thickness of lunar soil and monitor the environment between the earth and the moon. The next phase is to land a lunar rover on the moon by 2010. This will be followed by another unmanned expedition by 2020 to collect samples of lunar soil.
Preparations to send astronauts to the moon will begin only after these expeditions. In 2003, China celebrated its first manned space flight by solo astronaut Yang Liwei who orbited earth for 21 hours. Last year, a similiar space flight took off with another two astronauts and they returned successfully after five days.
I wonder what songs will be transmitted. Not all martial songs and slow military marches I hope! Perhaps some enterprising soul should start a contest to see if the songs guessed here tally with the final selection in China. Perhaps as a gesture of goodwill, Beijing might even transmit a few songs from fellow Asian countries. Who knows, perhaps we could get to hear Siti Nurhaliza from space, courtesy of Chinese technology!
posted by The Malaysian. at 7/07/2006 08:37:00 PM
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