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China is launching the Chang’e-5 mission via the Long March-5 rocket to retrieve moon rocks at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan Province early Tuesday morning. Photo: Li dike
China’s Chang’e-5 robotic lunar probe successfully conducted a second braking maneuver on Sunday evening, following a first on Saturday and marking another key milestone in the mission. The spacecraft has successfully descended into a lower near-circular lunar orbit, the Global Times of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has learned.
The CNSA said in a statement sent to the Global Times on Sunday evening that the spacecraft performed the second braking operation around 8:25 p.m. Sunday, as it traveled to perilune, the point closest to a lunar orbit, which to a new almost circular orbit lower than the previous elliptical orbit.
The braking maneuver is one of the primary orbital control measures for any lunar probe mission. It is designed to slow down the probe and to ensure that it can be captured by the lunar gravitational field.
Photo: Our space
Ahead of Sunday’s maneuver, the Chang’e-5 probe made two course corrections and one braking operation near Moon, all of which hit planned targets, CNSA said.
The 8.2-ton Chang’e-5 probe has four parts: the orbiter, lander, ascender, and return capsule.
The Global Times has learned from the China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of the state-owned giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the agency that designed the Chang’e-5 probe, that the probe will then be separated into two parts – an orbital module with orbiter and return capsule and a landing-ascender combination.
Photo: Our space
The orbital module will continue to orbit the moon, while the landing-ascender combination will perform two more orbit corrections and descents, before its soft landing at the intended site on the lunar surface.
The lander-ascender combination will perform a two-day operation on the lunar surface, and approximately two kilograms of lunar samples will be collected and packaged by the ascender at this point prior to its appointment and docking with the orbital module. The return capsule will separate from the orbital module and return to its designated landing site in northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.
The Chang’e-5 probe was launched on Tuesday by a Y5 Long March-5 carrier rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan Province. The whole mission will last about 23 days, according to the CNSA.
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