China succeeds in bringing moon rocks to Earth for the first time in its history

China’s Chang-e5 mission successfully brought soil and rock samples from the moon’s surface to Earth on December 17. This is the first time in 44 years that lunar rocks have been brought to our planet, since the Luna 24 space mission sent by the Soviet Union in 1976. It is also the first time that China has been able to conduct a space mission to bring samples.

How did it happen?

The sample capsule landed in Inner Mongolia a few minutes after 2:00 a.m. local time. The truck and helicopter recovery teams were able to locate the landing site shortly after the capsule landed and secure the sample container.

The disembarkation is the culmination of a 23-day mission that began on November 23, when China launched Chang-e5 from a site on Hainan Island. After 8 days, The mission’s surface probe has landed on the moon’s surface And he immediately started to dig; As he began to collect an amount of lunar material from the surface of the planet and the layers below. The goal was to collect a quantity of at least 2 kg and put it back on the ground.

The samples were stored on the embarkation craft, which returned them to the orbiter on December 6. The expedition returned to Earth on December 13, and we finally have some new moon rocks to study.

A new science awaits you

While the lunar rocks from the Apollo missions are estimated to be 3-4 billion years old, the material collected by the Chang-e5 mission belongs to a site in the northwest region of the near face of the moon called Moons Romker. This region was formed in more recent times and the rocks in it are believed to be no more than 1.2 billion years old. This means that scientists can learn more about the evolution of the moon and test new techniques to estimate the age of geological samples from other planets, moons, or even other asteroids.

A beautiful day in Chinese history

Chang’e’s lunar program, which includes two propagation operations, was successful Lunar vehicles traveling the surface of the moon, To achieve wow. Although the Chang-E5 mission lasted for a short time, it is one of the most complex projects undertaken by the Chinese space program to date. The country still has a long way to go before they can send a shipment to Chang’e 6, the second mission is expected to be launched to bring lunar samples in 2023 or 2024.