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China’s Chang’e-5 probe is on its way to the moon on a mission that could revive the first samples of lunar rocks and earth in more than 40 years.
The 8.2-ton spacecraft was sent into space from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China at 4:30 am local time on November 24 (8:30 pm Universal Time on November 23) atop a rocket Long March 5.
Like the earlier Chinese moon probes, Chang’e-5 is named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology. This probe is made up of an orbiter, a lander, an ascent vehicle and a re-entry capsule.
The aircraft is following an Earth-Moon transfer trajectory that should take it into lunar orbit five days after launch. On approximately November 29, the paired lander and ascent vehicle are expected to separate from the orbiter and land on a lava dome known as Mons Rümker.
The mound is thought to contain rocks that formed relatively recently in geological terms – 1.2 billion years ago. Samples from such a region could produce the youngest rocks ever reported by the moon and shed new light on recent phases of lunar geology.
The Chang’e-5 lander is designed to study its surroundings with cameras and scientific instruments, including a ground-penetrating radar and a spectrometer. The most important scientific loads are a mechanical shovel and a drill that can go up to two meters below the surface.
Since the lander is powered by solar energy, all operations on the lunar surface will need to be completed over the course of two weeks, before the two-week lunar night begins in Mons Rümker.
Up to two kilograms of samples can be stowed on the ascent vehicle, which is expected to take off from the lunar surface in early December, make an appointment with the orbiter, and transfer the material to the reentry capsule.
If all goes according to plan, the orbiter will bring the capsule back from the Moon and drop it as it flies past Earth in mid-December. The capsule is designed to withstand atmospheric reentry and make a parachute landing in the deserts of Inner Mongolia.
The last time a probe brought fresh samples from the moon was in 1976, thanks to the Soviet mission Luna 24. NASA’s Apollo missions returned more than 800 pounds of lunar rock and soil for study on Earth between 1969 and 1972.
Peng Jing, the deputy chief designer of the Chinese lunar probe, said Chang’e-5 could be considered a “key mission”.
“Its success will help us acquire the basic skills for future deep space exploration such as sampling and taking off from Mars, asteroids and other celestial bodies,” Peng said, citing the Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
NASA’s first opportunity to bring back lunar samples could come in 2024, if the Artemis program to send astronauts to the moon and back is valid. In September, NASA established a plan whereby commercial space companies could store samples on the moon and then transfer ownership of that material to the space agency.
NASA noted the launch of Chang’e-5 in a tweetand called on China to share mission data with the global scientific community:
NASA’s reference to scientific data sharing sparked a Twitter debate on international space policy, including the fact that US law excludes bilateral cooperation with China on space issues due to security concerns. At least one state-affiliated Chinese news outlet, the English-language Global Times, took offense at NASA’s request in a tweet:
Main image: The Chinese Long March 5 rocket sends the Chang’e-5 probe into space. Credit: CNSA / CLEP
This is an updated version of a report originally published on Cosmic Log.
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