For the first time in 44 years it has a spacecraft lunar monsters to Earth. With the Chang’e 5 mission completed, China is now joining a highly exclusive club, reinforcing the country’s role as a major player in space exploration.
China is now only the third country to collect and bring samples from the moon to Earth. The last time this happened was in 1976, when the Soviet Union did the same as part of his Luna 24 mission. NASA, during its six Apollo missions, managed to collect and retrieve 842 pounds of lunar regolith and rocks.
The Chinese capsule containing the samples landed in Siziwang Banner, just north of China’s Inner Mongolia region, at 1:59 a.m. local time, according to to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The Chang’e 5 mission included many firsts for the Chinese space program, including the first lunar sampling and sealing mission, the first encounter and docking in orbit, and the first spacecraft to perform an atmospheric re-entry with samples on board , such as Chinese state media Xinhua reports.
The capsule was 3,100 miles (5,000 km) above the South Atlantic O.cean when it separated from the orbiter. Prior to making the big jump, the capsule bounced off the atmosphere as it traveled at a speed of 7 miles per second (11.2 km / s), which it did to slow the speed down, dropping it to a better manageable 5 miles per second (7.9 km / s). ). With a parachute it was able to float safely to the surface, where it was picked up by ground personnel. As Xinhua reports, the recovery team will briefly inspect the capsule and then fly to Beijing for further analysis.
In particular, the sealed samples will be “transferred to specially designed laboratories for analysis, experimentation and testing, so that scientists can determine the composition, structure, and properties of the alien substances, thereby enhancing their knowledge of the history of the moon and the solar system.” deepened. to CNSA. “A certain portion of the samples will also be displayed to the public to raise science awareness among the public, especially young generations, sources close to the mission say.”
G / O Media can receive a commission
China said it will make the samples available to other countries, such as CNN reports.
CNSA described the Chang’e 5 mission as “China’s most advanced and challenging space adventure”. Indeed, it was the nation’s most complex space project to date, lasting 23 days and involving many moving parts and potential points of failure.
The mission began on Nov. 24, when a Long March heavy rocket delivered an assembly consisting of an orbiter, lander, ascender, and reentry capsule to space. The lander separated from lunar orbit on November 30 and landed on the lunar surface the next day. Interestingly, China is still the only country in the 21st century to successfully bring landers to the lunar surface (the others being the Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 landers). Attempts by India in 2017 and Israel doing the same thing in 2019 ended in catastrophic failure.
The lander was placed in Mons Rümker – an isolated volcanic formation in the Oceanus Procellarum region of the moon. This gigantic lava plain was probably created by one consequence, and it has never been studied until now.
Using its drill, the Chang’e 5 lander pulled 500 grams of material from beneath the surface, while its robotic arm collected 1.5 kg upwards. The research team will have to confirm thisthese quantities once the capsule has been opened. After the samples were stored in a vacuum chamber, the lander planted a Chinese flag on the surface, said goodbye to the moon and took rejoined the orbiter on December 3. It was “the first time that a Chinese spacecraft has been fired from an alien body,” according to CNSA.
Now completed, this mission will do much to advance China’s ambitions in space. For example, the CNSA has shown that it can return samples from another celestial body and dock in orbit around the moon. Even more powerful missions, including sending Chinese astronauts, known as ‘yuhangyuans’ and sometimes ‘taikonauts’, to space and the moon are fully possible and belong to the intentions.
This is the second time in 11 days that a spacecraft has been brought alien material to Earth. On December 6, Japan’s Hayabusa2 spacecraft was successful dropped off a capsule with surface material from asteroid Ryugu. Apparently this is what we’re doing now (and there is more to come thanks to NASA’s OSIRIX-Rex), which is pretty cool.