China's Chang'e-5 lunar sampler makes it to the Moon
- by Carmen Reese
- in Science
- — Dec 3, 2020
The combination landed on the moon at 11:11 pm on Tuesday, becoming the third spacecraft that has successfully touched down on the lunar surface this century.
The probe is on a mission to retrieve samples of the rocks and dirt on the Moon's surface. China's Xinhua news service confirmed the landing minutes later.
The probe, launched November 24 from the tropical island of Hainan, is the latest venture by a space program that sent China's first astronaut into orbit in 2003.
China's Chang'e-5 mission will be the third ever to bring back soil or rock samples from the Moon - only the US and the former Soviet Union have accomplished that so far.
The Chang'e 5 probe was expected to land near a volcanic feature in the northwest of the Moon, known as Mons Rümker.
"China Science has confirmed the landing in a tweet, saying: "#Breaking: "The Chang'e-5 successfully landed on the near side of Moon, China's National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Tuesday".
The sample collection module has a robotic arm, a rotary percussive drill, a scoop, and separation tubes to keep individual samples isolated.
'When the samples collected on the Moon are returned to Earth, we hope everyone will benefit from being able to study this precious cargo that could advance the global science community, ' he said.
At the proper time, the returner will then separate from the orbiter and carry the samples back to Earth, finally landing in north China's Inner Mongolia. Its predecessor, Chang'e 4, was the first probe to land on the moon's little-explored far side.
The Chang'e-5 probe includes a lander, ascender, orbiter, and return vehicle.
If the next phases of the mission prove equally successful, it will be the first time lunar samples have been returned to Earth in 44 years.
Getting the samples back to Earth is the key task.
Footage from the broadcaster showed lab staff from the China Academy of Space Technology wearing augmented reality glasses and using shovels to shape a sand pit according to contours of the moon's surface.
Here is a timeline of key moments in Chinese space exploration.
The Chang'e 5 is a solar-powered lander and has just 14 Earth days of sunlight to work.
October 15, 2003: China became the third country after the United States and Russian Federation to send a man into space with its own rocket. Plans call for a permanent space station to be launched after 2022.
July 23, 2020: China launched an uncrewed probe to Mars in its first independent mission to another planet.
