* Astronomy

Germany hopes to put an unmanned space craft into the moon's orbit in the early part of the next decade, a senior German official said on Wednesday.
The lunar orbit mission will be useful for scientific research, said Deputy Economy Minister Peter Hintze, the government's aerospace coordinator.

 "It is also a chance for Germany to prove its competence in this area."

Hintze said a report prepared by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) would be presented to the government for consideration.

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