According to OUYANG Zhiyuan, a Chinese Academy of Sciences academician and the lead scientist of China's moon circling project, the Chang'e III satellite, a lunar satellite to be launched in 2013, will be designed with the functions of soft landing, unmanned probe, and lunar night survival.

Instead of using the multiple-orbit shifting approach, the Chang'e III satellite will directly fly to the Moon. Unlike the surface of Earth or Mars covered by atmosphere, which allows a parachute landing, the vacuumed lunar surface only allows a soft landing by reducing the speed, taking advantage of a retrorocket's reverse push. According to OUYANG, the Chang'e III satellite will be dropped to the lunar surface in the following manner: a retrorocket will be started when the satellite is 15 kilometers away from the moon. The satellite will be in a suspension state for the time being, when 100m from the moon, free from the ground control. The highly intelligent satellite will automatically select a flat site for landing. It will shut off its propeller when 4m away from the lunar surface. Then, the satellite will take a "free fall" like soft landing.

The lunar satellite will be aboard with a rover for lunar surface probe. The moon rover enjoys the highest intelligence so far a Chinese made robot can have. It navigates on its own, avoiding obstacles, selecting a desired route, choosing a site to be probed, and using the desired instrument. Equipped with a radar unit on top, the rover can detect the variations of inner lunar structures. Of the 7 instruments aboard the rover, there is an astronomic telescope, rare in a moon landing rover. The satellite will also have to survive the long lunar night that is 180℃ below zero cold.    

China's moon probe project is set to implement in three phases: circling, landing, and returning. The project will embark on the last step: returning to the earth, once step II, or landing on the moon, is completed. The rover will be instructed to drill into the lunar surface to take samples. The sample collected will be stored in a re-entry capsule, which departs from the moon on its own rocket. The re-entry capsule will enter the space circling the moon, and get geared to leave the moon orbit, before flying back to the earth under the ground control. When entering the atmosphere, the re-entry capsule will drop all the samples to the ground using parachutes for the sake of safety.