[ad_1]
China is looking to fetch rocks from the Moon for the first time since 1976, when the Soviet Union’s Moon 24 collected 170 grams and brought it back to Earth. China, which is set to launch the Chang’e-5 probe on Tuesday, hopes to bring back 2kg lunar rocks from a previously unvisited area of the Moon known as the Ocean of Storms.
Read: NASA investigates habitability of Jupiter’s moon Europa with possible water discovery
If successful, China will become the third country to recover rocks from the Moon after the United States and the USSR. The United States was the first country to bring back 382 kg of rocks and dirt when it landed the first humans on the Moon with the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Read: NASA discovers water trapped within the Moon’s sunlit surfaces, says it is more ‘widespread’
Chang’e-5 probe
China, which made its first lunar landing in 2013, hopes to discover more about Earth’s natural satellite through the Chang’e-5 probe. Experts have said the mission will help better understand how the Moon’s magnetic field disappeared and for how long it remained volcanically active. The Moon is believed to have had a magnetic field billions of years ago, but it has disappeared and it can no longer dodge harmful solar radiation.
Read: Blue Moon graces the dark skies for Halloween after 76 years; Twitterati Flood Net with images
The Chang’e-5 probe will be launched by a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang space center in Hainan province on November 24. The robotic exploration is expected to land on the surface of the Moon on November 27 and return to Earth on December 17. The probe was previously planned for a launch in 2017 because due to the Long March 5 rocket failure, it was postponed.
(With contributions from the agency)
Read: NASA confirms the presence of water in the Clavius crater on the Moon; Says ‘key to mission Artemis’
[ad_2]
