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Technicians at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center are monitoring the docking of the Chang’e 5 lunar probe’s ascendant with its orbiter-reentry capsule combination on Sunday. (JIN LIWANG / XINHUA)
Lunar samples collected by China’s Chang’e 5 robotic probe will soon begin their journey to Earth, according to the China National Space Administration.
Rocks and dust from the moon have been delivered from Chang’e 5’s ascendant to their final host, the probe’s reentry capsule, which will then carry them to Earth.
The 400-kilogram ascender was docked with the 2.3-metric-ton orbiter and reentry capsule combination early Sunday morning and then transferred a sealed container with 2 kilograms of lunar samples to the capsule.
The operation was the first automated rendezvous and docking of any spacecraft in lunar orbit.
The last time two components of a spacecraft docked together in lunar orbit was in December 1972 during the last Apollo mission, and that was monitored and controlled by astronauts.
One of the most crucial devices during the highly sophisticated docking maneuver on Sunday morning, a microwave radar, which is mounted on the orbiter, worked with its transponder in the ascender to measure rapidly changing distance and provided communication between the two vehicles traveling to allow them to adjust their position during docking.
Engineers from the China Institute Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Second Academy 25 designed and built the devices. They applied multiple advanced technologies to the device, making it the best of its kind in the world, said Sun Wu, chief equipment designer at the institute.
Several hours after docking, the ascendant departed the reentry capsule and orbiter combination around noon, while the combination continued to orbit the moon before its journey back to Earth, the space administration said in a statement Sunday. the afternoon.
After reaching Earth orbit, the pair will separate in due course, and the reentry capsule will perform a series of complicated maneuvers to return to a pre-arranged landing site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in mid- December.
Chang’e 5, China’s largest and most sophisticated lunar probe, has four main components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascendant, and a reentry capsule. The spacecraft was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-load carrier rocket on November 24 at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province, kicking off China’s most challenging lunar adventure and the world’s first mission since 1976 to bring lunar samples to Earth.
The probe was separated into two parts, the reentry capsule and orbiter combination and the lander and ascent combination, while in lunar orbit on November 30.
Late on Tuesday, the lander and ascendant combination landed on the moon, becoming the world’s third spacecraft to land on the lunar surface this century after its predecessors, Chang’e 3 and 4. for samples. 2 meters below the lunar surface.
It ended the underground operation Wednesday morning and then began using a mechanical arm to retrieve dirt from the surface.
All the picking and packing processes were completed on Wednesday night, much earlier than expected. The samples were packed in a vacuum container inside the ascendant.
The ascendant activated an engine Thursday night to rise into an elliptical lunar orbit and prepare for docking with the reentry capsule, marking the first time a Chinese spacecraft has lifted off an alien body.
If this mission is successful, it will make China the third nation to bring back samples from the Moon, after the United States and the former Soviet Union.
American Apollo astronauts and Soviet Luna robotic landers recovered a total of about 382 kilograms of lunar rocks and dust from 1969 to 1976.
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