China will release over 700 hours of data sent back by the Chang'e-1 satellite to domestic authorized users and the European Space Agency, according to the State Administration of Science Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) on Friday.

As of 2 PM on Friday, the country's first moon probe satellite had sent back more than 700 hours of data to two ground receiving stations, one in Miyun County on the outskirts of Beijing, and the other in Kunming, capital of the southwestern Yunnan Province, according to SASTIND.

The data included three-dimension data of the moon, which was captured by a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera installed on the satellite, SASTIND said.

The satellite had orbited the moon 3,024 times since it was launched on October 24. It marked the first step of China's ambitious three-stage moon mission.

It was expected to experience another moon eclipse on August 16.

"Judging from the power consumption during the first moon eclipse (in February), the satellite can survive the second trial, " said Ye Peijian, chief commander and designer of the country's first moon probe satellite system.

Chang'e-1 went through its first moon eclipse test on the morning of February 21 for 2.5 hours and performed three orbital adjustments. The remaining fuel weighed 270 kg.

(Xinhua News Agency August 2, 2008)