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- A week after launch, the Chinese space probe “Chang’e 5” landed on the moon.
- This is considered an important step in China’s ambitious space program.
- For the first time in more than 40 years, rock samples will be brought to Earth from the Moon.
The space probe named after the Chinese moon goddess “Chang’e 5” landed “successfully” on the surface, according to the Chinese state news agency Xinhua. With a successful return to Earth, China would be only the third nation, after the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s, to have succeeded in bringing rock samples to Earth.
The biggest challenge is still ahead
“Chang’e 5” was launched on November 23 from the Wenchang space station. A bigger challenge for researchers than landing on the moon, where Chinese probes had landed twice before, is now the further course of the mission.
Wenchang Space Center with the image of President Xi Jinping. China also wants to become a power in space.
Reuters
At 8,200 kilograms, the “Chang’e 5” is the largest spacecraft in the “Chang’e” fleet to date and consists of four modules: the orbiter with the return capsule and the lander with the landing stage. ascent. After landing on the lunar surface, the lander is supposed to use a long arm to collect moon rocks and samples from wells up to two meters deep and store them in a chamber.
This action should take two days. Then the return trip must be made. The researchers hope the samples will provide new information about the moon’s volcanic activity.
Ambitious space program
In the current lunar journey of the Chinese, space experts see not only a geological mission, but an important technological test, for example, for future manned flights to the moon.
China has an ambitious space program. On the one hand, it is planned to send people back to the moon in the medium term. On the other hand, a Chinese probe is currently on its way to Mars. Also, the construction of a space station will begin next year.
