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China has launched a robotic spacecraft to fetch rocks from the Moon, the first such attempt by any country since the 1970s.
The Long March-5, China’s largest carrier rocket, took off at 4.30 am Beijing time on Tuesday from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island with the Chang’e-5 spacecraft.
The Chang’e-5 mission, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, will seek to collect lunar material to help scientists understand more about the origins and formation of the moon. The mission will test China’s ability to acquire samples from space remotely before more complex missions.
If successful, the mission would make China the third country to have recovered lunar samples, joining the United States and the Soviet Union.
In entering into the orbit of the moon, the spacecraft is intended to deploy a couple of vehicles to the lunar surface: a lander and an ascender. The landing should take place in about eight days, according to Pei Zhaoyu, a spokesman for the mission. The probe is scheduled to stay on the lunar surface for about two days, and the full mission is scheduled for about 23 days.
The plan is for the lander to pierce the lunar surface and scoop out dirt and rocks with a robotic arm. This material would be transferred to the ascending vehicle, which must transport it from the surface and then dock it with an orbital module.
The samples would then be transferred to a capsule for the return trip to Earth with a landing in the Inner Mongolia region of China.
“The biggest challenges … are sampling work on the lunar surface, liftoff from the lunar surface, rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, as well as high-speed reentry to Earth,” said Pei, who He is also director of the Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering of the China National Space Administration.
“We can carry out samplings by circumlunar exploration and lunar landing, but it is more intuitive to obtain samples to carry out scientific investigations; the method is more direct, ”added Pei. “Also, there will be more instruments and more methods to study them on Earth.”
