China’s moon orbiter, Chang’E 2, has sent back its first pictures. Images released today by the China National Space Administration include the Bay of Rainbows (right) Sinus Iridum, which is a candidate landing site for a lunar rover that the Chinese intend to launch in 2013.

The data for the 3D image was taken by a Chang’E 2’s stereo camera from a height of 18.7 km on Oct. 28, four days after the launch. The image has a resolution of 1.3 metres per pixel, more than ten times the resolution of pictures from Chang’E 2’s predecessor, Chang’E 1. Chang’E 2 is tasked with imaging possible landing sites over the next six months and testing “soft landing” technology for the lander, which has been interpreted as meaning that it is carrying an impactor that will be dropped to the lunar surface. A briefing sent by Yong-Chun Zheng of the Chinese Academy of Science’s National Astronomical Observatories to Nature and to the Lunar-L email list says that there’s still no final decision about the probe’s fate once its scientific goals are complete but that it may be crashed into the lunar surface like Chang’E 1.