Chang’e 5 probe successfully enters lunar orbit

China’s Chang’e 5 robotic lunar probe performed a braking maneuver on Saturday night and then successfully entered a lunar orbit, according to China’s National Space Administration.

The administration said in a statement that a 3,000 newton thrust motor on the spacecraft was activated at 8:58 p.m. and operated for about 17 minutes when the probe reached a position about 400 kilometers above the moon.

A key orbital control measure for any lunar mission, the braking operation was conducted to reduce the speed of the spacecraft to ensure it can be captured by the moon’s gravitational field rather than accidentally flying at – beyond the celestial body.

The 8.2 metric ton Chang’e 5 has four components: the orbiter, lander, blocker and reentry capsule. It is the largest and most sophisticated lunar probe in China.

The spacecraft was launched by a heavy Long March 5 carrier rocket early Tuesday morning at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province, with the aim of carrying out the world’s first mission to bring lunar samples back to Earth since 1976.

After arriving in lunar orbit, the probe will fly around the celestial body for a period of time and then split into two parts, with the orbiter and reentry capsule remaining in orbit while the lander-ascender combination descends towards the lunar surface. .

The landing suit will perform a motor-assisted landing on the moon and later start performing missions such as using a high-tech drill to get underground rocks 2 meters below the surface and a mechanical arm to collect surface dirt.

If all goes well, about 2 kilograms of stones and soil will be collected and packed in a metal vacuum container inside the winch.

Once the two-day surface operations are completed, the ascender rocket will lift it into lunar orbit to rejoin and dock with the re-entry module. It will transfer the lunar samples to the module and then detach from the latter.

The orbiter and reentry capsule combination will then leave lunar orbit and return to Earth orbit, where the pair will split up and the reentry capsule will perform a host of complicated maneuvers to return to a landing site. predefined in the Inner Autonomous Region of Mongolia in mid-December.

Back on the lunar surface, the lander will continue to use its three science payloads to perform surveys and measurements – the panoramic camera is responsible for mapping the topography of the landing site; the infrared spectrometer will determine the physical composition of stones and dirt around the landing site; and the soil measuring instrument will detect and analyze the underground structure of the drilling point.

The entire mission is expected to last around 23 days, according to the space administration.

Given these highly sophisticated operations, Chang’e 5 will be harder and harder than previous Chinese lunar expeditions, the designers said.

If the mission is successfully completed, it will become China’s first space activity to recover extraterrestrial substances and also make China the third country in the world to bring back lunar samples after the United States and the former Soviet Union. .