Second dawn for lunar probe

BEIJING - China's second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, has reached an orbit 1.5 million kilometers from Earth for an additional mission of deep space exploration, the State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense announced on Tuesday.

It arrived at what is called a Lagrangian point, where it will stay till the end of next year to conduct scientific observations and test deep space tracking and control capability for future possible explorations of Jupiter and the poles of the Sun, experts said.

Lagrangian points are where gravitational forces and the orbital motion of a body balance each other. There are five Lagrangian points in the Sun-Earth system, and the Chang'e-2 has reached one of those nearest to Earth. Lying in the Earth's shadow, this Lagrangian point is exposed to less radiation from the sun than other Lagrangian points, and it is an ideal place for scientists to put space telescopes when they want to observe the universe.