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The Long March 5 rocket with the Chang’e 5 lunar module takes off from the Wenchang space center in southern China on November 24, 2020 afp_tickers
This content was published on 24 November 2020 – 09:20
(AFP)
On Tuesday, China launched a probe to the moon to collect samples of lunar rocks and return them to Earth, in the first operation of its kind since the one conducted by the former Soviet Union in 1976.
This ambitious operation will allow the Asian country to test new technologies, essential to send astronauts to the Earth’s natural satellite in 2030, as Beijing wishes.
The “Long March 5” rocket successfully “pushed” the probe at 4:30 local Tuesday (17:30 Brasilia time, Monday) from the Wenchang space center on the tropical island of Hainan (south), said L Chinese space agency (CNSA).
The Chang’e 5 mission, named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology, represents the new stage of the ambitious Chinese space program, which in early 2019 managed to land a spacecraft on the far side of the moon. a world first.
The probe sent this time was designed to collect moon dust and rocks, digging the ground to a depth of two meters.
Once on Earth, these samples could help scientists better understand the Moon’s volcanic activity and thus its evolution and history.
“Scientists from China and other countries will have the opportunity to obtain lunar samples transported by Chang’e 5 for research,” promised Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the organism that coordinates lunar exploration at CNSA.
“But for China, the engineering goals are perhaps more important,” he added.
According to Chen Lan, an analyst at the GoTaikonauts.com website, which specializes in the Chinese space program, Beijing “wants to use this mission to adapt the technologies needed in future manned lunar missions.”
“It’s another step towards seeing the Chinese on the moon,” he added.
– “Quite difficult” –
Chang’e 5 is the first attempt to bring back the moon rocks since 1976 and the unmanned mission Luna 24, successfully completed by the former Soviet Union.
The United States also collected samples during the Apollo 17 manned mission (1972), but collected directly from astronauts.
The Chang’e 5 probe sent by China on Tuesday weighs 8.2 tons. It consists of four parts: an orbiter (which will remain in lunar orbit), a landing module (which must land on the satellite), an ascension module (from ground to lunar orbit) and a return capsule (to the Land) .
The collection of the samples will take place near Mons Rümker, a mountain massif located at a height of over 1,000 meters on the visible face of the Moon.
Unlike the Soviet program, in which the spacecraft made the Moon-Earth path directly after collecting samples, China will use a more arduous method.
The rocks will first be placed in the ascension module, which should reach the lunar orbit and then attach to the orbit, before being transferred to the return capsule to Earth.
“Probably the need to fine-tune manned mission technologies was what led Chinese engineers to adopt such a complicated, or even useless, method,” Chen Lan said.
“This has never been done before and is, in fact, quite difficult,” said Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the United States.
“But if successful, China’s robotic exhibition return system will become the most flexible and effective,” he points out.
– Return in December –
The Chinese probe is expected to land on the moon in late November. The return of the champions to Earth is expected to take place in early or mid-December.
It is not the first time that China has launched a spacecraft on the moon under the Chang’e program. The country has already managed to land two small guided robots, the so-called “Jade Rabbits”, in 2013 and 2019.
The launch of the Chang’e 5 was initially planned for 2017. But the failure of a flight in the same year of the “Long March 5” rocket, essential for the mission, caused the postponement.
China is investing billions in its space program to reach Europe, Russia and the United States.
In 2003 he sent his first astronaut into space. In 2022 he hopes to set up a large space station and also wants to send men to the moon ten years from now.
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