[ad_1]
China made history by becoming the second country to plant a flag on the surface of the moon, with the help of the Chang’e 5 lander.
The Chinese media announced that the country’s flag “shines an even brighter red [the] moon ”following the launch of the Chang’e 5 elevator from the lunar surface. The country’s latest lunar mission, launched on November 23, aims to collect lunar rocks that will be returned to Earth and analyzed to better understand how the moon was born.
If successful, this will be the first time lunar rocks have been brought back to Earth since the 1970s. Furthermore, it would make China the third country to recover lunar samples, after the United States and the Soviet Union.
Now, the Global Times has reported confirmation from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) that the lander – which arrived on December 1 – had packed samples of lunar soil and rocks and took off again just 19 hours later on its way to Earth.
There is now a fully woven PRC flag planted on the surface of the Moon after it is deployed to one side of the Chang’e 5 descent phase just before the rise phase launch.
Whatever your views on the PRC, this photo certainly has significant meanings in the history of space flight. pic.twitter.com/um1xR2brRg
– Cosmic Penguin (@Cosmic_Penguin) December 4, 2020
The CNSA also confirmed that just before takeoff, the ground vehicle opened a Chinese national flag made of fabric and planted it on the surface. This makes China the second country to deploy a separate flag on the moon after the United States during the Apollo era.
However, the Soviet Union was the first to place its national symbol on the lunar surface on a metal sphere deployed during the 1959 Luna 2 mission.
Measuring 200cm by 90cm, CNSA scientists said the flag represents cutting-edge technology as they have spent a significant amount of time deciding which material to use to store it for decades to come.
A national achievement
While not going into detail, its developers said the fabric flag should be able to withstand extreme temperatures and radiation, unlike many of the US flags carried to the moon.
“The memory of yesterday is still fresh and clear, when US astronauts stepped out of their cabins and planted the first flag in human history, an American national flag, on the moon in 1969,” Song Zhongping, a Chinese aerospace expert, told the Global Times. .
“But China is also going to show our national flag, which I believe is a recognition of the achievements and discoveries we have made, which will be the most valuable thing.”
Chinese scientists will soon be waiting in the Inner Mongolia region to collect the samples once they land. As reported by the BBC, the rock samples sent will be of great importance to astronomy as they could help scientists to accurately calibrate the “stopwatch” used to calculate the age of the surfaces of planets in the inner solar system.
[ad_2]
Source link
