China's Chang'e lunar launch has backup of European space scientists
Continent's space experts will provide Chang'e mission backup as they eye future joint missions
When China launches it lunar probe Chang'e 3 tomorrow, European space experts will be watching it closely - they are serving as a backup team that will relay commands and directions to the vehicle if Beijing encounters any lapses in communication.
The collaboration is a key step towards Europe's ambition to strengthen ties with China in space exploration, and eventually secure a seat on a future Shenzhou space capsule.
"That would definitely be one of the goals we are heading for," Thomas Reiter, the director of Human Spaceflight and Operations at the European Space Agency (ESA), told the .
The odds are in his favour.
Step by step the central government is opening up its once highly guarded space projects to overseas participants. During the International Astronautical Congress, a huge gathering of space-agency management executives held in Beijing at the end of September, Chinese officials made a concerted effort to "sell" the benefits of China's programme and invite co-operation.
Professor Maurizio Falanga, one of the few Western space scientists working in China, has witnessed the changes first-hand. Falanga has a big office in the National Space Centre in the capital's Haidian district.
