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China launched a mission to the moon on November 23 that promises to collect samples from the lunar surface and return them to Earth for study.
Lunar Champion Chang’e 5’s return mission was launched at 20:30 UTC aboard a Long March 5 from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site on Hainan Island off the southern coast of China. About 75 minutes after takeoff, Chinese officials announced that the spacecraft had successfully deployed on its planned trajectory about 75 minutes later.
Since its launch, the spacecraft has completed two orbital corrections. The first burn was conducted at 14:06 UTC on November 24 and lasted for two seconds. The second was completed exactly 24 hours later and was a six second longer burn.
After the second orbital correction, Chinese officials said the spacecraft is currently 270,000 kilometers from Earth. Officials also confirmed that the spacecraft’s systems continued to function nominally.
The more than 8,000 kilogram Chang’e 5 spacecraft consists of four main elements, the obiter stage, the lander, the ascent stage and the reentry module. Once in orbit around the Moon, the lander and ascent vehicle will be deployed and land in a predetermined landing zone at Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum, an area on the near side of the Moon.
The two-day surface operations will see the lander pierce the lunar surface to a depth of two meters. The lander will then collect about two kilograms of stones and earth and seal them in a sample container.
After the completion of the surface operations, the sample container will be transferred to the ascent phase which will then be launched and will meet with the orbiter in lunar orbit.
The ascent phase will then transfer the samples to the reentry capsule which will then leave the lunar orbit under the power of the orbiter and return to Earth’s orbit. Finally, the re-entry capsule, with the precious champion on board, will be deployed with a planned touchdown in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of northern China.
With an expected return to Earth in mid-December, Lunar Champion Chang’e 5’s return mission is expected to be completed in about 23 days.
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