CHINA will announce the launch time of its first lunar satellite at a news conference on Monday, the Shanghai Securities News reports quoting the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense.

The report didn't provide further details or name the source.

Earlier media reports said the satellite, named "Chang'e I" after the legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, will blast off between Monday and Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Zhang Houying of the China Academy of Science said the satellite will spend 173 hours flying from the Earth to the moon.

It will orbit the moon for a year and obtain 3D images of the lunar surface, Zhang said.

"Although the United States has sent orbiters to the moon several times, it never got a full-scale picture of the moon," Zhang said.

The satellite will also explore minerals on the moon by spectral analysis, he noted.

"There are more than 100 minerals on the moon and the US has explored five of them. We will explore 14 minerals this time," Zhang said.

"The resources on the moon are available to anyone who can reach them, so the competition is very fierce and many countries want to set up a base on it," Zhang said.

The satellite is the first step of China's exploration of the moon, and the country plans to send a moon rover to conduct a "field survey" and bring back minerals within five years, Zhang said.

The country has begun the development of new rockets because the current carriers are not strong enough to send a moon rover to the moon, Zhang said. The new carries are expected to be completed in 2011, he said.

China's first moon rover weighs two tons, according to other media reports.

The country will also map out plans about sending astronauts to the moon after 2016, Zhang said.

"The moon will be an ideal platform for human beings to explore new celestial bodies," he said.