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China has successfully landed a probe on the moon. There, the unmanned Chang’e-5 will prepare to collect the first lunar samples collected since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976. Here’s everything you need to know:
Why has China gone to the moon?
Beijing wants to become a space superpower alongside the United States and Russia, the only two countries to have collected lunar samples so far.
President Xi Jinping hopes to operate a permanent space station called Tiangong (heavenly palace), planned for 2022, and send astronauts to the moon, as part of what he calls the country’s “space dream.” The first prototype, Tiangong-1, was launched in 2011 and completed its mission before China lost control of the spacecraft and crashed into the ocean in 2018. A space laboratory called Tiangong-2 was launched in 2016 and made a re-entry. controlled in 2019.
As part of China’s space plans, it launched a new rocket and spacecraft prototype in May, called the Long March 5B. China hopes that one day ships like these will bring a crew of six to the space station.
The Chang’e-5 mission provides the opportunity to test equipment and procedures before the next phase of Tiangong.
What will moon rocks be used for?
The 2 kg of material (dust and debris) the probe is expected to collect will help scientists understand the origins, formation and volcanic activity of the moon on its surface, according to AFP.
Xiao Long, a planetary geologist at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, told Nature that the samples could “rewrite the history of the moon” if they show that there was still volcanic activity on the moon’s surface between 1000 and 2000 ago. millions of years. Previous lunar material suggests that this activity stopped about 3.5 billion years ago, according to Nature.
Lunar dust is also quite a strange thing, and understanding it is important for the future of space exploration. If you want to know more, it is worth reading this article from Wired, “why moondust could cloud our lunar ambitions”.
How will the probe collect the lunar samples?
The Chang’e-5, named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, comes equipped with a lander and ascendant. These have now separated from the rest of the ship and landed near the 1.3 km high Mons Rümker, a volcanic area in a previously unexplored part of the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), the dark patches that form the head of the Moon. rabbit that we can see from Earth. This place is believed to be one of the last active volcanic areas on the moon.
The spacecraft will then drill two meters into the ground, collect the lunar material, store it in the ascendant at the top of the spacecraft, and take off. It will then dock with the rest of the orbiting spacecraft, to which samples will be transferred before the ascent vehicle is launched.
The spacecraft will then re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and parachute into the Inner Mongolia region of northern China.
How long will this mission take?
Chang’e-5 needs to complete its mission on a lunar day, the equivalent of 14 days on Earth, so it doesn’t have to endure too many extreme temperatures overnight.
What can go wrong?
Clive Neal, a geoscientist at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, told Nature that the lander could crash, tip over, or samples could fall while moving. The spacecraft also has to make the return trip to Earth and land safely in Inner Mongolia later this month.
