According to a Friday report in the official China Daily newspaper, China intends launching its second lunar probe, Chang'e-2, in October 2010. The second probe, which will orbit nearly 100 km closer to the moon than the country’s first probe Chang'e-1, will mark the preparation for China’s 2012-end proposed unmanned moon landing.

The planned lunar probe Chang'e-2, which will feature a higher resolution camera and comprises the second phase of the country’s ambitious lunar exploration program, is a clear indication of China’s escalating space ambitions.

As per the China Daily report, the third phase of China’s lunar exploration, scheduled for 2017, will witness the country launching a moon lander and rover to collect samples from the moon’s surface.

According to the information forwarded by designer Ye Peijian, engineers are working on prototypes of the third-phase spacecraft, Chang'e-3, and a landing site has been selected on a chunk of lunar real estate called the Sinus Iridium.

Already, China’s space program has taken gigantic strides over the last nearly a decade. In 2003, China became the world’s third country, after Russia and the US, to launch a person into orbit. While Yang Liwei became the first Chinese in space, Zhai Zhigang became the first Chinese to make a spacewalk in 2008, as part of one of the two manned missions undertaken by the country.