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China landed a robotic spacecraft on the moon, Xinhua, state agency statenews reported on Tuesday. The probe will spend two days collecting rocks and dirt from the lunar surface, with the goal of returning the first cache of lunar samples to Earth since 1976.
The spacecraft, Chang’e-5, was China’s third successful unmanned lunar landing since 2013, when Chang’e-3 and its Yutu rover became the first visitor to China to perform a lunar soft landing. In 2019, Chang’e-4 landed on the other side of the moon, the first spacecraft on Earth to do this. At least three more Chang’e moon landers are planned for the next decade, ahead of China’s aspiration to build a moon base for astronauts in the 2030s.
A March 5 long rocket carrying the probe was launched last Tuesday from a site in southern China’s Hainan Island. In an unusual move for China’s typically secret space program, the takeoff and the trip to orbit were covered live by state broadcasters, with footage taken by cameras mounted on the rocket. The live program suggests that the Communist Party has growing confidence in the country’s space program.
If the operations on the moon and the return to Earth are successful, China will be only the third country to bring lunar samples there. NASA astronauts accomplished this feat during Apollo moon landings, as did the Soviet Union’s Luna robotic landers, ending with Luna 24 in 1976. These samples have greatly contributed to the understanding of the evolution of the solar system, and planetary scientists eagerly awaited additional samples. .
After the spacecraft entered orbit around the moon, Chang’e-5 was split in two: the lander now on the surface and an orbiter awaiting its return. The spacecraft braked and successfully entered an elliptical orbit on Saturday, then braked again on Sunday to enter an almost circular orbit, according to CCTV, the state television network. Additional maneuvers on Monday and Tuesday prepared the landing spacecraft for its descent to the surface.
The lander landed at Mons Rümker, a volcanic plain on the near side of the moon that is estimated to be around 1.2 billion years old. It’s considerably younger than the places explored by Apollo and Luna, which were all over three billion years old.
The lander will have to complete its drilling and gathering tasks in a single lunar day, which lasts 14 Earth days. It is not designed to survive the frigid, dark lunar night.
The Chang’e-5 lander includes a small rocket and before sunset it will take off with the rock and soil samples. This rocket will join and dock with the orbiting spacecraft for the return trip to Earth. The samples will be transferred to the orbiter for the return trip to Earth.
The sample is expected to land in China’s Inner Mongolia region in mid-December.
The young age of the samples could prove invaluable to scientists on Earth, who can use them to better calibrate techniques for estimating the age of geological surfaces on planets, moons and asteroids throughout the solar system.
The specimens can also help scientists test hypotheses about the cause of the volcanism evident in the region of the moon where Chang’e-5 landed.
Coral Yang contributed to the research.
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