China’s Chang’e-5 successfully lands on the moon

The Chang’e-5 probe has successfully landed on the near face of the moon, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Tuesday.

With the spacecraft ascender at the top, its lander made a landing around 11:00 p.m. (Beijing time), becoming the third probe from China to achieve a soft landing on the moon. He returned footage of the moment he landed.

In the next two days, the lander will collect around two kilograms of lunar samples.

The Chang’e-5 probe includes a lander, ascender, orbiter, and turner. After the spacecraft entered circular lunar orbit 200 kilometers above the moon, the lander and ascender pair separated, descended, and landed in the intended area on the moon.

The lander will shovel surface material and also drill a two-meter-deep hole and scoop up the soil from within, which will act as a moon archive, with the bottom recording information from a billion years ago. years and the top more closely reflecting the present.

The samples will then be stored in the ascender, which will lift off from the lunar surface to transfer the lunar samples to the turner and the orbiter waiting in lunar orbit. The unmanned rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit will also be China’s first such task.

Then, at the appropriate time, the turner will separate from the orbiter and return the samples to Earth, which will eventually land in northern China’s Inner Mongolia.

Read more: China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission explained in graphics

Tech It Out: Chang’e-5, China’s most complex space mission

Once completed, the Chang’e-5 probe will be part of the world’s first unmanned sample return mission from the moon in 40 years, and will make China the third country in the world to report lunar samples after the United States and the former Soviet Union.

The Chang’e-5 probe was launched in the early morning hours of November 24. It is one of the most complicated and difficult space missions in China to date, which will contribute to scientific studies in areas such as the formation and evolution of the moon.

Read more: China successfully launches Chang’e-5 to collect moon samples

(CGTN’s Liu Hui also contributed to the report.)