China has started developing the Long March 6 carrier rockets for its space programs, the China National Space Administration announced on its official website.

The Long March 6 rockets will be non-toxic and pollution-free while featuring a number of new technologies used for the first time in China, according to the administration.

The Long March 6 rockets are expected to be ready for blast off in 2013, it said.

The rockets will be designed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, developer of the Shenzhou VII spacecraft, from which Chinese taikonauts carried out the country's first space walk in 2008.

The payload capacity of the Long March 6 rockets are not revealed. Neither are specific space programs the rockets are to be involved in.

China aims to set up a simple space lab in 2011 and a manned space station in 2020. It also intends to go further in space and has set its eyes on a moon landing.

(Xinhua News Agency September 6, 2009)