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BEIJING – A Chinese flag now sits on the moon in the latest display of the Asian nation’s ambitions in space.
The National Space Administration has released an image of the flag, which the state-run Xinhua news agency described as the “five stars that shine” on the moon.
China is the second country to have its flag on the moon. Unlike the 1969 American lunar landing, the Chinese flag was flown not by an astronaut but by a machine: the Chang’e-5 lunar lander.
Cheng Chang, technical director in charge of the lunar flag display, said the team spent more than a year selecting the material for the flag to ensure it withstands cosmic rays and strenuous temperature changes on the surface of the moon. moon, according to Xinhua.
The flag is 2 meters wide and 90 cm high and weighs around 1 kg. It had to be deployed in a second to guarantee success, Xinhua reports.
A display system featuring China’s national flag, top right, is seen from the Chang’e-5 spacecraft on the moon in this panoramic image provided by the China National Space Administration via Reuters.
Xinhua quotes a metal worker who made pieces for the flag display as saying he would tell his grandson “Grandpa did this.” Another team member said that the round knob at the top of the pole, which had to be ultra-light so as not to weigh the probe, was inspired by the Japanese. gashapon toy capsules.
The Chang’e-5 lander has collected lunar soil to return it to Earth, the National Space Administration said on Thursday. China is poised to become the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union, to accomplish such a feat.
The lunar soil, estimated at 1.2 billion to 1.3 billion years ago, would be the first to return to Earth in 44 years. The samples were collected from the surface and up to about 2 meters below, according to the space agency.
Chang’e-5 landed on the moon on Tuesday, as part of a Chinese space program that plans to build a lunar base around 2030 and seek resources there by 2035.
Beyond the moon, China aims to conduct a study of Mars in 2021, the centennial of the Chinese Communist Party. A manned mission to Mars is planned for 2045.
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