[ad_1]
CHINA has released images of its flag flying over the moon as it embarks on a new space race against the United States.
A Chinese probe took off from the lunar surface yesterday to return to Earth as part of an ambitious effort to bring back the first samples from the moon in four decades.
8
8
Beijing is trying to catch up with the United States and Russia after taking decades to match the achievements of its rivals and has poured billions into its military-run space program.
The Chang’e-5 spacecraft, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, left the moon Thursday at 3:10 pm GMT, the Chinese space agency said.
A module carrying lunar rocks and soil was launched into orbit by a powerful thrust engine, officials said for the mission that landed on the moon Tuesday.
Video footage from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV showed the spacecraft taking off from the moon’s surface in a flash of bright light.
The images later showed a Chinese flag – five yellow stars on a red background – planted in the ground.
The space agency said that “before takeoff, the Chinese flag was hoisted to the surface of the moon.”
8
8
He added that this was the first time China had gotten off the ground from an extraterrestrial body.
The module must then undergo the delicate operation of connecting with the part of the spacecraft that must bring the specimens back to Earth, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Scientists hope the samples will help them learn about the Moon’s origins, formation, and volcanic activity on its surface.
If the return voyage is successful, China will be only the third country to have recovered samples from the Moon, after the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
8
8
This is the first such attempt since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 mission in 1976.
The spacecraft’s mission was to collect two kilograms (4.5 lbs) of material in an area known as Oceanus Procellarum – or “Ocean of Storms” – a vast unexplored lava plain, according to the scientific journal Nature.
Xinhua, which called Chang’e-5 “one of the most complicated and demanding missions in Chinese aerospace history,” reported that the spacecraft worked for about 19 hours on the moon.
The samples were to be returned to Earth in a capsule scheduled to land in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, according to the US space agency NASA.
8
8
Under President Xi Jinping, plans for China’s “space dream”, as he calls it, have been severely tested.
China hopes to have a manned space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the moon.
China launched its first satellite in 1970, while human spaceflight took decades longer – with Yang Liwei becoming China’s first “taikonaut” in 2003.
A Chinese lunar rover landed on the far side of the moon in January 2019 in a world first that bolstered Beijing’s aspirations to become a space superpower.
The moon – explained our closest neighbor
Here’s what you need to know …
- The Moon is a natural satellite, a space body that orbits a planet
- It is the only natural satellite on Earth and is the fifth largest in the Solar System
- The Moon measures 2,158 miles in diameter, about 0.27 times the diameter of the Earth
- Temperatures on the Moon range from minus 173 degrees Celsius to 260 degrees Celsius
- Experts assumed the Moon was another planet, until Nicolaus Copernicus outlined his theory about our solar system in 1543
- He was eventually assigned to a “class” after Galileo discovered four moons orbiting Jupiter in 1610
- The Moon is believed to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago
- The strength of its gravitational field is about one sixth of the Earth’s gravity
- The Earth and the Moon have “synchronous rotation”, which means we always see the same side of the Moon – hence the phrase “dark side of the Moon”
- The Moon’s surface is actually dark, but it appears bright in the sky due to its reflective ground
- During a solar eclipse, the Moon almost completely covers the Sun. Both objects appear similar in size in the sky because the Sun is both 400 times larger and further away.
- The first spacecraft to reach the moon was in 1959, as part of the Soviet Union’s lunar program
- The first manned orbital mission was NASA’s Apollo 8 in 1968
- And the first manned lunar landing was in 1969, as part of the Apollo 11 mission
The latest probe is among a slew of ambitious targets.
These include the creation of a powerful rocket capable of carrying heavier loads than NASA and the private space company SpaceX can handle, a lunar base and a permanently manned space station.
Chinese taikonauts and scientists have also talked about manned missions to Mars.
OUTSIDE THIS WORLD
Scientists unveil blueprints for city on Mars hosting 1 million people on CLIFFS
GOING … GONE
The drone footage shows the space telescope featured in Bond’s GoldenEye COLLAPSE
STAR SHOT
The jaw-dropping map of our Milky Way galaxy has been unveiled by astronomers
NIGHT LIGHTS
Mysterious “spectral circles” looming in space: they could be WORMHOLES
SPACE TRACK
The mega-telescope creates “Google Maps of SPACE” by finding a million new galaxies
In other news, astronomers have created a “Google Maps of the Universe”.
NASA hopes to go back in time using the James Webb Space Telescope.
And NASA recently revealed a surreal photo of Earth taken from 4 billion miles away.
What do you think of China’s moon mission? Let us know in the comments!
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online Tech & Science team? Email us at [email protected]
[ad_2]
Source link
