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WENCHANG, China (AP) – Chinese technicians were preparing final preparations for a mission to bring materiel from the moon’s surface for the first time in nearly half a century on Monday – a venture that could improve understanding of the moon and the solar system more generally.
Chang’e 5 – named after the Chinese moon goddess – is the country’s most ambitious lunar mission to date. If successful, that would be a major breakthrough for China’s space program, and some experts say it could pave the way for the repatriation of samples from Mars or even a manned lunar mission.
The four modules of the Chang’e 5 spacecraft are expected to be sent into space on Tuesday aboard a massive Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang launch center along the coast of the southern island province of Hainan, according to a description of the mission by NASA.
China’s secret National Space Administration only said a launch was scheduled for late November, although the lunar exploration project said in a statement on Monday that the success of the orbit, descent and return would “throw a solid basis for future missions ”.
The main task of the mission is to drill 2 meters (almost 7 feet) below the surface of the moon and collect about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rocks and other debris to bring back to Earth, according to NASA. This would provide the first opportunity for scientists to study newly obtained lunar material since the American and Russian missions of the 1960s and 1970s.
After making the three-day trip from Earth, the time of the Chang’e 5 lander on the moon should be short and mild. There can only be one lunar day, which is about 14 Earth days, because it does not have the radioisotopic heating units to withstand the freezing nights of the moon.
The lander will dig for materials with its drill and robotic arm and transfer it to what’s called a blocker, which will lift off from the moon and dock with the “service pod.” The materials will then be moved to the return capsule for the return trip to Earth.
The technical complexity of Chang’e 5, with its four components, makes it “remarkable in many ways,” said Joan Johnson-Freese, space specialist at the US Naval War College.
“China is showing itself capable of developing and successfully executing high-tech programs that are sustainable, important for regional influence and potentially global partnerships,” she said.
In particular, the ability to collect samples in space is increasingly valued, said Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Other countries that are considering recovering material from asteroids or even Mars could look into China’s experience, he said.
Although the mission is “really tough,” McDowell said China has landed on the moon twice already with its Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 missions, and showed with a 2014 Chang’e 5 test mission. that she could return to Earth. , enter again and place a capsule. It only remains to show that he can collect samples and leave the moon.
“As a result, I am quite optimistic that China can achieve this,” he said.
The mission is among the most daring in China since it first put a man in space in 2003, becoming the third nation to do so after the United States and Russia.
While many of China’s manned spaceflight accomplishments, including building an experimental space station and conducting a space walk, replicate those of other countries in years past, the CNSA is now moving to new territories.
Chang’e 4 – which was the first soft landing on the relatively unexplored far side of the Moon almost two years ago – is currently collecting comprehensive measurements of radiation exposure from the lunar surface, vital information for everything country that plans to send astronauts to the moon.
China in July became one of three countries to launch a mission to Mars, in China’s case an orbiter and rover that will look for signs of water on the red planet. CNSA says the Tianwen 1 spacecraft is about to arrive on Mars around February.
China has increasingly engaged with foreign countries on missions, and the European Space Agency will provide important ground station information for Chang’e 5.
US law, however, still prevents most collaborations with NASA, excluding China from partnering with the International Space Station. This prompted China to start working on its own space station and launch its own programs that put it in constant competition with Japan and India, among Asian nations seeking new achievements in space. .
China’s space program has progressed cautiously, with relatively few setbacks in recent years. The Long March-5 rocket, nicknamed “Fat 5” due to its bulky shape, failed on a previous launch attempt, but has since operated without problems, including the launch of Chang’e 4.
“China is working in a very gradual fashion, developing building blocks for long-term use for a variety of missions,” Freese-Johnson said. China’s authoritarian one-party system also allows “prolonged political will which is often difficult in democracies,” she said.
While the United States has followed China’s successes closely, cooperation with China in space is unlikely amid political suspicion, growing military rivalry, and accusations of Chinese theft of technology, according to experts.
“A change in US space cooperation policy is unlikely to capture the government’s attention in the near future,” Johnson-Freese said.
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