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BEIJING: A Chinese spacecraft carrying the country’s first lunar samples has started its return journey from the moon, according to the country’s space authority.
China’s Chang’e-5 probe, comprising an orbiter, lander, ascendant and return, was launched on November 24, and its lander and ascendant combination landed north of Mons Rumker in Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms, on the near side of the moon on December 1.
After the samples were collected and sealed, Chang’e-5’s ascendant lifted off the lunar surface on Thursday at 11:10 p.m. Beijing time, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported, citing an announcement from Space. National of China. Administration.
It represented the first Chinese spacecraft to take off from an extraterrestrial body.
An engine, after working for about six minutes, pushed the ascendant into the current lunar orbit, said Xing Zhuoyi, designer of the Chang’e-5 probe at the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST) of the Science and Technology Corporation. China Aerospace.
Unlike takeoff on the ground, the ascender could not rely on a launch tower system.
The lander acted as a temporary “launch pad,” which had landed on the lunar surface fairly stably, Xing said.
The Chinese spacecraft adopted two lunar sampling methods, including using drills to collect samples from the subsurface and taking samples at the surface with a robotic arm.
He collected various samples at different sites.
The ascendant is expected to complete the unmanned encounter and docking with the orbiter-returner in lunar orbit and samples will be transferred to the returner, according to the report.
When the geometric relationship between the Earth and the Moon is adequate, the orbiter will take the returner to Earth.
Before takeoff, a Chinese national flag was unfurled from the lander and ascendant combination, Xing said.
This is the first effort to bring back samples from the Moon in more than 40 years.
The United States sent astronauts to the moon to collect samples.
In the unmanned lunar sampling missions of the Soviet Union, the spacecraft took off from the moon and returned to Earth directly.
The soils obtained from the Moon by the Chinese spacecraft are expected to provide information on its geological evolution and provide information on solar activities in the universe, according to the mission team.
