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A spectacular video of the Chinese spacecraft Chang’e 5 reveals his successful landing on the mun while gently perching to collect the first lunar samples in 44 years.
The 49 second accelerated video was captured by a camera below the Chang’e 5 lander as it passed over the vast Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of storms“) while pointing to a safe landing site on Tuesday (December 1). The black and white images show peaks on the horizon before the spacecraft moves to a vertical position to begin its motorized descent to the surface. China’s CCTV news network shows Chang’e 5’s sample collection arm piercing the lunar surface while collecting samples (we combined them into one in the video above).
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In the descent video, craters of all sizes appear and disappear as the lander slows its fall. With all of this happening some 236,000 miles (380,000 kilometers) away and it took two seconds for signals to travel from Earth and back, the process needed to be automated.
Chang’e 5 used a gamma ray altimeter to measure distance to the surface and optical and laser systems to detect potential hazards. The lander appears to float as it selects its landing site and makes its final descent.
Related: The latest news on China’s space program
The spacecraft launched on November 23 and finally landed safely on Tuesday at 10:11 am EST (1511GMT, 11:11 pm Beijing time) near Mons Rümker, a volcanic peak. However, the landing is just one part of a very challenging mission that aims to deliver the first fresh lunar samples to Earth since the 1970s.
The spacecraft began collecting samples a couple of hours after landing, both mining from the surface and drilling through the lunar regolith for scientifically precious material.
Chang’e-5 has been busy collecting and drilling samples from the landing site at Oceanus Procellarum. Here’s the gif of the scoop arm in action, putting material into the sample container. pic.twitter.com/jq0hbJwV20December 2, 2020
An ascent vehicle will launch the valuable cargo back into lunar orbit on Thursday in preparation for docking with the Chang’e 5 orbiter on standby. The orbiter will then carry the samples back to Earth, releasing a reentry capsule that will enter the atmosphere and land around December 16.
If all goes well, scientists will have the first new lunar samples in decades that could potentially be billions of years younger than those previously collected by the Apollo missions and the Soviet Moon.
The samples could help scientists understand why this area of the moon may have been geologically active long after volcanism ended in most other parts of the moon.
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