China successfully collects lunar samples as US telescope falls

• On the same day that China collected moon rocks on a groundbreaking space mission, a critical American telescope at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico collapsed.
• The observatory, built in 1963, has been a beacon for American astronomical research, has lasted during natural disasters, and has inspired generations of Puerto Rican researchers.
• China’s success with the Chang’e-5 probe is the first time since the 1970s that lunar samples have been collected, and if the spacecraft returns to Earth safely in mid-December, that will be a step forward. massive front in space exploration.
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On Tuesday, the United States and China experienced very different events in the world of space exploration and observation.

The Arecibo Observatory, a colossal telescope located in Puerto Rico, has collapsed after deteriorating sharply since August. The Arecibo Observatory had been operating as a center for astronomical observations for 57 years.

Meanwhile, far from Earth’s atmosphere, the Chang’e-5 unmanned probe, a Chinese spacecraft, has landed on the moon to bring lunar material back to Earth for the first time in nearly 50 years, said the Chinese government.

The moon landing and the recovery of moon rocks in China mark the first time a country has acquired material samples from the moon since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976, according to NASA.

US astronauts in NASA’s Apollo program last recovered more than 800 pounds of lunar samples between 1969 and 1972.

The two separate events on the same day show the stark contrast between China’s recent investments in space exploration and research and the U.S. space efforts, which often have shifting budgets and priorities.

As Business Insider previously reported, there are a myriad of obstacles to the return of the United States to the Moon, including the cost of space exploration and the shift in priorities with each new presidential administration.

China’s lunar program began about a decade ago with an investment of $ 180 million and with orbiter launches in 2007 and 2008. According to a 2019 report from Fortune, while the United States is still spending most for space exploration, China’s spending has increased 349% in 15 years. .

Chinese National Space Administration

The Chang’e-5 spacecraft that has landed will eventually dock with the rest of the spacecraft remaining in orbit, and from there the samples will return to Earth in the orbiter. If all remaining steps go smoothly, samples will land in mid-December in the Inner Mongolia region.

In Puerto Rico, the observatory’s suspended telescope fell about 450 feet and crashed into the observatory’s reflector antenna Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. National Science Foundation.

Built in the 1960s, the observatory was originally funded by the US Department of Defense and is now overseen by the National Science Foundation and the University of Central Florida. The telescope made key scientific discoveries, such as tracking asteroids on their way to Earth, and aided research leading to a Nobel Prize. It was also one of the iconic sets from the James Bond film, “Goldeneye”.

Puerto Rican meteorologist Ada Monzón cried Tuesday as she announced the fall of the telescope. The month of November marked a tragic end not only for the structure of the observatory, but also for the potential uses of the observatory in the future, with the NSF announcing its intention to decommission the observatory, before the ‘collapse.