China spacecraft returns data

BEIJING, Sept. 22 (UPI) -- The second of two Chinese moon orbiters has sent its first data back to Earth from 1 million miles away, Chinese space officials said.

The Chang'e-2 orbiter sent back data on high-energy particles and solar winds, China's state-run news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.

The orbiter, equipped with a gamma-ray spectrometer, high-energy solar particle detector and solar wind ion detector, will remain at its current location at a Lagrange Point until 2012, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said.

There are five so-called Lagrange Points in Earth's orbit where a spacecraft can stay in a fixed position relative to the Earth and sun with a minimal amount of energy needed for course corrections.

The Chang'e-2 is the first spacecraft in China to undertake multiple tasks in one mission, and the world's first to leave the moon's orbit for the L2 Lagrange Point, Liu Dongkui, deputy chief commander of China's lunar probe project, said.