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The Chinese lunar module Chang’e 5 returned to Earth on December 17, 2020 in Inner Mongolia – AFP
A probe China He returned to Earth this Thursday (17) with samples from the Moon, in the first mission of its kind in more than 40 years, a true technological feat in space.
The return module of the Chang’e-5 space probe landed overnight in the Inner Mongolia (north) region, the Chinese Space Agency (CNSA) said in a statement.
Analysis of the samples will help to understand the lunar history. The mission also makes it possible to refine the technologies necessary for Chinese astronauts to reach the moon, something that Beijing intends to do in 2030.
The public channel CCTV showed images of the module landing, with the help of a parachute, in a snowy area.
The scientists picked up the module and placed a Chinese flag next to the device.
With the mission, China became the third country to collect rocks from the Moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
President Xi Jinping conveyed “warm congratulations” to those who worked on the mission, according to the state agency Xinhua.
“His brilliant achievement will be forever engraved in the memory of our homeland and our people,” he said.
– A delicate operation –
The last attempt to return to Earth with samples from the Moon had been made successfully by the USSR in 1976, with the Luna 24 mission.
The United States also collected rocks during the manned Apollo 17 mission (1972), but they were obtained directly by astronauts, requiring less remote manipulation.
“It is a technological feat that will allow Beijing to rely more on its technology,” Chen Lan, an analyst at the GoTaikonauts.com website specializing in the Chinese space program, told AFP.
“Such a complex mission remains undoubtedly very difficult to accomplish today, even for the United States, Russia and the other space powers,” he emphasizes.
Chang’e 5, named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology, was launched on November 24 from the tropical island of Hainan (South China).
The module landed on the Moon on December 1, near Mons Rümker, in a mountainous area never before explored. The mission was to collect two kilos of material.
After collecting the samples, the probe’s lander had to automatically ascend to lunar orbit, join the orbiter, and transfer the payload to the return module. All of these operations were complex because they were controlled remotely from Earth.
– “Maturity” –
“No one has ever done this before,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States.
“The fact that everything went well is a sign of the maturity of the Chinese space program,” he told AFP.
The samples will allow scientists to learn more about the Moon’s origins, its formation, and volcanic activity on its surface.
China invests billions of dollars in its space program to match the level of Europe, Russia and the United States.
In early 2019, the country was able to land a probe and a small guided robot on the other side of the Moon, something unprecedented among all space agencies.
China sent the first astronaut into space in 2003.
The Asian giant completed the network of its Beidou navigation system, rival of the US GPS, in June.
Last summer it launched a probe bound for Mars, where it hopes to land a small guided robot in 2021. It also plans to create a large space station by 2022.
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