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This graphic simulation image provided by the National Space Administration of China shows the orbiter and return combination of China’s Chang’e-5 probe after its separation from the ascendant, at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing on Sunday, December 6, 2020. The Chinese probe that landed on the moon transferred rocks to an orbiter on Sunday in preparation to return samples of the lunar surface to Earth for the first time in nearly 45 years, the country’s space agency announced. . (China National Space Administration / Xinhua via AP)
A Chinese space capsule that brought back the first lunar rocks in more than four decades began its three-day return to Earth on Sunday.
The Chang’e 5 lunar probe, which had been orbiting the moon for about a week, fired four engines for about 22 minutes to exit the moon’s orbit, the China National Space Administration said in a post on social media. .
The spacecraft’s lander landed on the moon earlier this month near a formation called Mons Rumker, an area believed to have been the site of ancient volcanic activity. He collected about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of samples.
The return capsule is expected to land in northern China in the Inner Mongolia region after separating from the rest of the spacecraft and floating on a parachute. The material would be the first to return from the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 probe in 1976.
The rocks and other debris were obtained both by drilling into the lunar crust and by extracting directly from the surface. They may be billions of years younger than those brought by previous missions by the United States and the Soviet Union, possibly offering insight into the history of the Moon and other bodies in the solar system.
In this photo from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) published by the Xinhua News Agency, a simulated image of the ascendant of the Chang’e-5 spacecraft taking off from the lunar surface at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center ( BACC) in Beijing on December 3. , 2020. The Chinese lunar probe lifted off from the moon Thursday night with a shipment of lunar samples in the first stage of its return to Earth, state media reported. (China National Space Administration / Xinhua via AP)
China has established laboratories to analyze the samples by age and composition and is also expected to share some of them with other countries, as it did with the hundreds of kilograms (pounds) brought by the United States and the former Soviet Union.
China’s space program has a series of ambitious missions underway, including a probe en route to Mars. The Chang’e lunar program, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, has been operating the Chang’e 4 probe on the least explored side of the moon for the past two years.
Future plans call for returning a human being to the moon and perhaps a permanent lunar base. China is also building a space station that will start operating from 2022.
Chinese probe prepares to return lunar rocks to Earth
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Citation: Chinese capsule with moon rocks begins to return to Earth (2020, December 13) retrieved on December 13, 2020 from https://phys.org/news/2020-12-chinese-capsule-moon-earth. html
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