CHINA still has no plans or timetable to put an astronaut on the moon despite the country's launch yesterday of its first lunar probe.

A successful moon landing would require consideration of many factors, including the available levels of technology and funding, experts from the Commission of Science Technology and Industry for National Defense have said, Xinhua news agency reported today.

China launched its first lunar probe at 6:05pm yesterday at Xichuang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern province of Sichuan, a milestone achievement in the country's ambitious 10-year moon exploration program.

The satellite is expected to relay the first picture of the moon in late November and will also carry out a series of projects that include acquiring three-dimensional images and analyzing the distribution of elements on the moon's surface during a year-long lunar exploration, the China National Space Administration said.

However, the country is still incapable of a manned lunar landing as it is confined with a lack of technology that can assure astronauts to travel to and back from the moon -- a journey that covers more than 800,000 kilometers, the report said.

China has so far developed 12 types of Long March rockets. The most advanced one can propel a space craft as heavy as nine tons into low-Earth orbit or send a five-ton satellite into geosynchronous orbit 36,000 kilometers away from the Earth, the report said.

"The manned lunar landing project is an extremely difficult task with high risks and cost lots of money and cannot be achieved with sheer passion," Luan Enjie, chief director of the country's program, told Xinhua.

China is now trying to boost the rockets' launching ability to send a 25-ton craft into space, the report added.

"China still has a lot of problems such as how the astronauts can survive on the moon and how they can return to the Earth," Sun Jiadong, chief designer of the program said. "These problems can not be fixed in the short term."

Chinese scientists said in previous reports that the country will be fully capable of sending manned spacecraft to the moon in 15 years given adequate funding.

The country carried out its maiden manned space flight in October 2003, making it the third country in the world after the former Soviet Union and the United States to have sent men into space.

On July 21, 1969, three American astronauts Neil A. Armstrong, Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin Jr, traveled 380,000 kilometers to the moon and finally stepped on it surface. To date, no other country has landed men on the moon.

US President George W. Bush declared in 2004 that his country is planning a return visit to the moon by 2020 and will also set up a permanent base on the moon by 2024 after six successful landings from 1969 to 1972.