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China is trying to bring rocks from the moon for the first time since 1976, when the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 collected 170 grams and returned it to Earth. China, which is set to launch the Chang’e-5 probe on Tuesday, hopes to bring 2 kg of moon rocks from a previously unvisited area of the moon known as the Ocean of Storms.
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If successful, China will become the third country to recover rocks from the moon after the United States and the USSR. The United States was the first country to bring back 382 kg of rock and soil when it landed the first humans on the moon with the Apollo missions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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Chang’e-5 probe
China, which made its first moon landing in 2013, hopes to find out more about Earth’s natural satellite through the Chang’e-5 spacecraft. Experts said the mission will help better understand how the Moon’s magnetic field disappeared and how long it remained volcanically active. The Moon is believed to have had a magnetic field billions of years ago but has disappeared and can no longer dodge the harmful solar radiation.
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The Chang’e-5 probe will be launched by a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang space center in Hainan province on November 24. Robotic exploration is expected to land on the surface of the Moon on November 27 and return to Earth by December 17. The probe was previously scheduled for a 2017 launch because due to the failure of the Long March 5 rocket, it was postponed.
(With agency input)
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