[ad_1]
A long March-5 rocket, carrying the e-5 Chang spacecraft, departs from the launch site of the Wenchang spacecraft on the coast of the southern island of Hainan Province on November 24, 2020. [Photo/Xinhua]
China’s Chang’e 5 robotic lunar probe performed a braking maneuver on Saturday night and then successfully entered a lunar orbit, according to the Chinese National Space Administration.
The administration said in a statement that a 3,000-newton engine on the spacecraft was activated at 8:58 pm and ran for about 17 minutes when the probe reached a position some 400 kilometers above the moon.
A key orbital control measure for any lunar mission, the braking operation was conducted to reduce the spacecraft’s speed to make sure it can be captured by the moon’s gravitational field rather than accidentally flying past the celestial body.
The 8.2-ton Chang’e 5 has four components: orbiter, lander, blocker, and reentry capsule. It is China’s largest and most sophisticated lunar probe.
The spacecraft was launched by a Long March 5 heavy transport rocket early Tuesday morning at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan Province, in an attempt to carry out the world’s first mission to bring lunar samples back to Earth since 1976.
Upon arrival in lunar orbit, the spacecraft will fly around the celestial body for a period of time and then separate into two parts, with the orbiter and re-entry capsule remaining in orbit as the lander-ascender combination descends. towards the lunar surface.
The landing combo will make an engine-assisted landing on the moon and then begin performing tasks such as using a state-of-the-art drill to obtain underground rocks 2 meters below the surface and a mechanical arm to collect surface dirt.
If all goes smoothly, about 2 kilograms of stones and earth will be collected and packed in a vacuum-sealed metal container inside the blocker.
After the two-day surface operations are completed, the elevator rocket will elevate it to lunar orbit to meet and dock with the re-entry module. It will transfer the lunar samples to the module and then detach itself from it.
The orbiter and re-entry capsule combination will then leave lunar orbit and return to Earth’s orbit, where the pair will break apart and the re-entry capsule will perform a series of complicated maneuvers to return to a preset landing site in the Inner Autonomous Region. of Mongolia in mid-December.
Back on the lunar surface, the lander will continue to use its three scientific payloads to perform surveys and measurements: the panoramic camera has the task of mapping the topography of the landing site; the infrared spectrometer will determine the physical composition of the stones and dirt around the landing site; and the soil measurement tool will detect and analyze the subsoil structure of the drilling point.
The entire mission is expected to last around 23 days, according to the space administration.
Considering these highly sophisticated operations, Chang’e 5 will be more difficult and challenging than previous Chinese lunar expeditions, the designers said.
If the mission ends successfully, it will become China’s first space activity to recover extraterrestrial substances and make China the third nation in the world to report lunar samples after the United States and the former Soviet Union.
Source link
