Huang said the person whose recommended list best matches the final list will be awarded a chance to witness the launch of the Chang'e-1 satellite. Other winners will receive badges or CDs as souvenirs.

Chang'e-1 is named after a young fairy who flies to the moon in the Chinese legend.

Weighing more than 2 tons, the unmanned orbiter is scheduled to blast off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Southwest China's Sichuan Province aboard the country's Long March III-A rocket.

Huang declined to say when the orbiter will be launched. Earlier reports said it could happen as early as April. It is expected to fly in orbit for a year, according to the centre sources.

As the first stage of a three-phase lunar probe mission, the unmanned fly-by mission will obtain three-dimensional images of the moon's surface and study its mineral content. A soft-lander will be sent into the moon with a "lunar vehicle" to cruise the surface around 2012.

Around 2017, another soft-lander will be sent to the moon to fetch lunar samples, Luan Enjie, commander-in-chief of the country's lunar exploration programme, said earlier.

The State Council approved the moon exploration project in 2004. The mission budget totalled 1.4 billion yuan (US$172.8 million).