China is likely to double the life expectancy of its homemade satellites by 2010, a vice minister in charge of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense said on Sunday.

Sun Laiyan, also chief of the China National Space Administration, said the country would strive to boost the life expectancy of its satellite designs in sun-synchronous orbit to four to five years by the end of the 11th Five-Year period (2006-10). Currently, it is two to three years.

The life expectancy of satellites in geo-stationary orbit is expected to nearly double to 15 years from eight years at present, Sun said at the country's third civil space work conference.

He said the nation would strive to finish the feasibility study of the second and third stages of its moon mission and its joint mission to Mars with Russia within three years.

China, the third country to put a man in space, launched its first lunar probe on Oct. 24. It was the first step of its ambitious three-stage moon mission.

The mission is aiming for a moon landing and the launch of a moon rover vehicle around 2012 in the second phase. In the following phase, another rover will land on the moon and return to Earth with samples of lunar soil and stone for scientific research around 2017.

Sun said homemade communications and broadcast satellites were expected to replace foreign-made equipment that is currently used by 2010.

During the period, China will have basically built a monitoring and early-warning system for space environment and launch satellites for disaster relief and the testing of new materials, technologies and equipment, he added.

(Xinhua News Agency November 19, 2007)