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China released video footage on Wednesday showing the arrival of its robotic Chang’e-5 spacecraft to the moon’s surface. Racing through a crater-strewn landscape on Tuesday, the camera momentarily pauses before a breathtaking fall begins. A moment later, a splash of moon dust and a shadow from the lander signaled that the probe touchdown was successful.
“Very precise and exciting landing, right in the middle of the most important geologic unit of the wider Chang’e 5 candidate landing region,” said James W. Head III, professor of geologic sciences at Brown University , in an email. Dr Head collaborated with Chinese scientists on the mission destination to collect rocks and soil to bring back to Earth.
The lander touched down, as expected, in a region of the moon known as Mons Rümker at 10:11 a.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday. The spacecraft sits in the middle of a basalt lava plain about two billion years younger than parts of the moon explored more than four decades ago by NASA’s Apollo astronauts and robotic landers Luna of the Soviet Union.
Within hours of arriving on the moon, Chang’e-5 began drilling and taking lunar samples.
Chang’e-5 footage shows a desolate landscape with rolling hills. A shortage of nearby craters indicates the youth of the region.
Scientists are curious as to how this region remained molten for much longer than the rest of the moon. Examining these rocks in laboratories on Earth will also determine their exact age, which will calibrate a method that planetary scientists use to determine the age of surfaces of planets, moons and other bodies throughout the system. solar.
The lander has already completed its drilling and stored the sample. He continues to pick up dirt around the spaceship. Once that’s done, the top half of the lander will return to space as early as Thursday. This will be the start of a complex sequence to bring the rocks back to Earth.
After arriving in lunar orbit this weekend, Chang’e-5 split in two. As the lander made its way to the surface, the other half remained in orbit.
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