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Tuesday, December 1S t, at 10:11 EST (07:00 PST) on Chang’e-5 The sample return spacecraft landed safely on the Moon. This mission is the latest in China’s lunar exploration program, which is paving the way for the creation of a lunar outpost and manned mission by the 2030s. The day after its landing, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) He passed over the site and acquired an image of the lander.
The images above and below were captured by LRO’s wide-angle camera and show the Chang’e-5 The location of the lander in a white box – The lander is represented by a white dot. These show the Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”), a large lunar mare located on the western edge of the near side of the Moon. Due to her size, which measures 2,500 km (1,600 miles) from north to south, she is the only mare designated as “Oceanus”.
Like all lunar maries, Oceanus Procellarum is a basalt plain that was formed when very fluid but thick lava flows covered the region. This is similar to flood basalts on Earth, where lava flows expand to become almost flat as they solidify, but retain characteristics that are indicative of their volcanic origin. But unlike the lava flows studied on Earth, Oceanus Procellarum formed between 1 and 2 billion years ago.
Furthermore, these samples could be billions of years younger than anything collected by Apollo astronauts or Soviet missions to the Moon so far. Therefore, these could shed light on the geological history and interior of the Moon. Although the Moon is geologically inactive today, scientists know that the situation was different in the past. Not only did the Moon have active volcanoes, it is even believed to have had a lunar magnetic field.
In the image above, covering a region measuring 61 km (38 miles) in diameter, a channel feature is seen. This corresponds to a narrow, winding channel (also known as a rille), which was formed by a volcanic eruption more than a billion years ago. The bright area to the south is an older terrain mass that protrudes through the basalt layer of the mare.
In the second annotated image (directly above), the focus is on a much smaller region measuring 1210 m (3970 ft) in diameter. In this image, the craters that form a triangular formation around the lander are more visible. Again, the location of the lander is indicated by a white box, while the lander is a white dot in the center.
On December 16, the Chang’e-5 lander returned its samples to Earth via a 300 kg (~ 660 lbs) return capsule. This capsule, which contained 2 kg (4.4 pounds) of drilled and collected lunar material, landed in Inner Mongolia at 12:59 p.m. EST (09:59 a.m. PST). The recovery of this sample marks the end of the Chang’e-5 mission and Phase III of the China Lunar Exploration Program.
Phase IV, which will involve the construction of a lunar outpost, is expected to begin in 2023-2024 with the launch of the Chang’e-6 and Chang’e-7 Missions If all goes well, China plans to send its first crewed mission to the south polar region of the Moon by the 2030s.
Other readings: LROC, SpaceNews
