[ad_1]
BEIJING – A Chinese lunar capsule returned to Earth on Thursday with the first fresh rock samples from the Moon in more than 40 years, offering the possibility of new insights into the history of the solar system and marking a new milestone for the rapid advance of the China space. Program.
The Chang’e 5 probe capsule landed just before 2 a.m. (1800 GMT Wednesday) in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region, the China National Space Administration reported.
The capsule had previously detached from its orbiter module and bounced off Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed before passing by and parachuting to the ground. After recovery, the capsule and its cargo of samples were transferred to the space program campus in Beijing to begin the disassembly and analysis process, the space administration said.
The mission achieved new firsts for the lunar exploration program by collecting samples, launching a vehicle from the moon’s surface and docking it with the capsule to return the samples to Earth, the administration said.
“As our nation’s most complex and technically innovative space mission, Chang’e 5 has made multiple technical breakthroughs … and represents a historic achievement,” he said.
Two of the four modules of the Chang’e 5 landed on the moon on December 1 and collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples by pulling them from the surface and drilling 2 meters (about 6 feet) into the crust. lunar. The samples were deposited in a sealed container which was carried back to the return module in a lift vehicle.
To the amusement of viewers, footage broadcast by state broadcaster CCTV showed a furry white animal, possibly a fox or a rodent, running in front of the capsule as it lay on the ground, pausing briefly as if to investigate the unknown object.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, in a statement read at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center, called it a great achievement that marked a great step forward for China’s space industry. Xi expressed hope that the mission participants will continue to contribute to making China a great space power and national rejuvenation, the state news agency Xinhua said.
The recovery teams had prepared helicopters and all-terrain vehicles to detect the signals emitted by the lunar spacecraft and locate it in the darkness that envelops the vast snow-covered region in the extreme north of China, long used as a landing site for the manned spacecraft from Shenzhou of China.
The return of the spacecraft marked the first time that scientists obtained fresh samples of lunar rocks from the former Soviet Union’s Luna 24 robot probe in 1976.
The newly collected rocks are believed to be billions of years younger than previously obtained by the US and the former Soviet Union, offering new insights into the history of the moon and other bodies in the solar system. They come from a part of the moon known as Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called Mons Rumker that was believed to be volcanic in ancient times.
As with the 382 kilograms (842 pounds) of lunar samples brought in by American astronauts from 1969 to 1972, they will be analyzed by age and composition and expected to be shared with other countries.
The age of the samples will help fill a gap in knowledge about the moon’s history between roughly 1 billion and 3 billion years ago, Brad Jolliff, director of the McDonnell Center for Space Sciences at the University of Washington in the city Louis, wrote in an email. They can also provide clues to the availability of economically useful resources on the moon, such as concentrated hydrogen and oxygen, Jolliff said.
“These samples will be a treasure!” Jolliff wrote. “Hats off to our Chinese colleagues for carrying out a very difficult mission; the science that will flow from the analysis of the returned samples will be a legacy that will last for many, many years and hopefully will involve the international community of scientists. “
The Chang’e 5 took off from a launch base in southern China’s Hainan island province on November 24 and appeared to have completed its technically sophisticated mission without a hitch.
It marked China’s third successful lunar landing, but the only one to lift off from the moon again. Its predecessor, Chang’e 4, became the first probe to land on the little-explored far side of the moon and continues to send data on conditions that could affect future extended human stay on the moon.
The moon has been a particular focus of the Chinese space program, which says it plans to bring humans there and possibly build a permanent base. No timelines or other details have been announced.
China has also joined the effort to explore Mars. In July, it launched the Tianwen 1 probe, which was carrying a lander and a rover robot to search for water.
In 2003, China became the third country to send an astronaut into orbit on its own after the Soviet Union and the United States and their space program have proceeded more cautiously than the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. from the 1960s, which was marked by fatalities and throwing glitches. By taking gradual steps, China appears on the path to building a program that can maintain steady progress.
The latest flight includes collaboration with the European Space Agency, which is helping to monitor the mission. Amid concerns about the secrecy of the Chinese space program and close military connections, the United States prohibits cooperation between NASA and the CNSA unless Congress gives approval. That has prevented China from participating in the International Space Station, something it has sought to compensate for with the launch of an experimental space station and plans to complete a permanent orbit outpost in the next two years.
———
This report corrects the launch date for the Chang’e 5 mission.
