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China on Tuesday launched an unmanned spacecraft on a previously untouched part of the Moon to bring moon rocks back to Earth.
The mission of the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, is to collect 4 1/2 pounds of samples to help scientists better understand the origins and formation of the moon.
If successful, China would only be the third country to have collected lunar samples, after the United States and the Soviet Union.
In a lunar day – or about two weeks here on Earth – China will attempt to collect the material in an unvisited area in a huge lava plain on the Moon. The samples will then be transferred to a return capsule and sent back to Earth.
It is a test for China before more complex missions.
Over the next decade, China plans to establish a robotic base station to conduct unmanned explorations in the moon’s south polar region.
And he plans to recover samples from Mars by 2030.
China’s current mission comes as NASA plans to send robotic robots to the moon before a possible human landing – for the first time since 1972.
Video transcript
– China on Tuesday launched an unmanned spacecraft on a previously untouched part of the Moon to bring moon rocks back to Earth. The mission of the Chang’e-5 probe, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, is to collect 4 and 1/2 pounds of samples to help scientists better understand the origins and formation of the moon . If successful, China would only be the third country to have collected lunar samples after the United States and the Soviet Union.
In a lunar day, or about two weeks here on Earth, China will attempt to collect material from an unvisited area in a massive lava plane to the Moon. The samples will then be transferred to a return capsule and sent back to Earth.
It is a test for China before more complex missions. Over the next decade, China plans to establish a robotic base station to conduct unmanned explorations in the moon’s south polar region, and it plans to recover samples from Mars by 2030.
China’s current mission comes as NASA plans to send robotic robots to the moon before a possible human landing for the first time since 1972.
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