This is the first time, since initial plans for a space station surfaced in 1992, that officials have revealed a specific launch timetable, a senior space scientist told the China Daily newspaper.

Significantly, yesterday's announcement coincided with another milestone in China's space programme - the Chang'e I lunar satellite's successful entry into moon orbit.

Scientists said China's first lunar probe had reached its final destination 'on time and very accurately' yesterday morning. The probe, which blasted off on Oct 24, will now circle the moon for at least a year mapping and analysing the lunar surface.

By breaking their silence and establishing a timeframe for the space station project, China's space chiefs are showing that 'they feel their technology, preparations and plans are all in good shape', said Beijing-based aerospace expert Wang Xiangsui. 'Their confidence level has certainly been raised.'

Indeed, yesterday's disclosure follows events and unveilings over the past months that indicate advancements in China's burgeoning space programme.

These include the successful launch of Chang'e I and an announcement that a new, more powerful generation of rocket launchers capable of carrying heavyweight satellites and space stations would be built. Earlier this year, officials revealed that a new satellite launch centre, China's fourth, would be constructed in southern Hainan province.

China's space station will be 'a small-scale, 20-tonne space workshop', Professor Long Lehao, a leading designer of the Long March 3A rocket that carried the Chang'e I lunar probe into space, told the China Daily.

He was optimistic about the space station plan because China had made significant progress developing a new family of rocket launchers, he said. He did not say how many astronauts would be involved or if the station would be manned permanently.

If successful, China's space station will be the second operational one, after the International Space Station (ISS). It will be the only one run by a single country after Russia's Mir space station was decommissioned in 2001.

The ISS, in contrast, weighs 400 tonnes and counts the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, Brazil and 11 countries from the European Space Agency as its members.

China has repeatedly expressed interest in participating in the ISS but has so far failed to gain entry, largely due to opposition from some US lawmakers and the US military who view China's space ambitions as a threat to US satellites and other military hardware in space.

'By showing it is close to having its own space station, it could be a case of China saying, 'Fine, if you don't want us to join, we'll do it ourselves',' noted Professor Wang.

But in a telling sign of how Beijing wants to avoid triggering further talk of a China space threat and its desire to keep its space plans under wraps, another space official yesterday denied that any plans had been finalised.

'China at present has not decided on developing a space station,' Mr Li Guoping, spokesman for the China National Space Administration, told Xinhua.

China's planned space station marks the third and final stage of its manned space programme.

The first phase involved two manned space flights in 2003 and 2005.

The second stage is scheduled to be completed next year when astronauts on board the Shenzhou VII spacecraft will undertake a space walk and other out-of-capsule activities.

tracyq@sph.com.sg