Chang’e-5 begins mission to scoop lunar samples
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CHINA’S Chang’e-5 probe took samples of the moon’s surface yesterday as part of a mission to bring lunar rocks back to Earth for the first time since the 1970s, the country’s space administration announced.
The lander-ascender combination of Chang’e-5 has sealed up soil samples obtained from beneath the moon’s surface, and is gathering samples from the surface as planned, the China National Space Administration said yesterday.
After making a successful soft landing on Tuesday night, the lander started rolling out its solar panel wings and unlocking some of the payloads on board to prepare for sample collection. It released images of the barren landing site showing the lander’s shadow.
The lander first drilled a 2-meter-deep hole, digging out soil, and sealed it up at 4:53am early yesterday. Next, it will use its robotic arms to scoop up more samples from the lunar surface for backup.
These samples, expected to weigh about 2 kilograms, will be sealed in what scientists have described as a long “sausage-like package.”
“Samples have to be sealed up in case any contamination occurs during the course back to earth,” Luan Enjie, the chief commander of China’s first lunar mission told CCTV. “The moon environment is very different from the Earth, so samples need to be stored in a very clean container,” he added.
The Chang’e-5 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 also has a spacecraft en route to Mars and aims eventually to land a human on the moon.
Plans call for the lander to spend two days on the moon and collecting 2 kilograms of rocks and debris. The top stage of the probe will be launched back into lunar orbit to transfer the samples to a capsule to take back to Earth, where it is to land in China’s northern grasslands in mid-December.
If it succeeds, it will be the first time scientists have obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 probe in 1976.
From the rocks and debris, scientists hope to learn more about the moon, including its precise age, as well as about other bodies in our solar system. Collecting samples, including from asteroids, is an increasing focus of many space programs.
Tuesday’s landing is “a historic step in China’s cooperation with the international community in the peaceful use of outer space,” said a foreign ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying.
“China will continue to promote international cooperation and the exploration and use of outer space in the spirit of working for the benefit of all mankind,” Hua said.
American and Russian space officials congratulated the Chinese program.
“Congratulations to China on the successful landing of Chang’e 5. This is no easy task,” NASA’s science mission chief, Thomas Zurbuchen, wrote on Twitter. “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 international science community.”
“For the space program of China, this event is undoubtedly historic,” Deputy Director General of Roscosmos Sergei Savelyev said in a statement, after congratulating his Chinese colleagues on behalf of the corporation.
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