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The goal of this new mission is to bring back samples of dust and rocks, to help scientists better understand the origins of the Moon.
A Chinese probe successfully landed on the moon this Tuesday, December 1, in a new milestone of the Beijing space program which, in this case, seeks to bring samples of lunar soil back to Earth.
This mission is a new stage in China’s ambitious space program, which in early 2019 brought a remote-controlled robot to the far side of the moon, a world first.
China has invested billions of dollars in its program, hoping to have a manned space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the moon.
The goal of this new mission is to bring back samples of moon dust and rocks, to help scientists better understand the origins of the Moon, its formation and the volcanic activity on its surface.
The Chang’e-5 probe “landed on the visible side of the moon on Tuesday afternoon,” the Xinhua state news agency said, citing the Chinese National Space Administration.
If successful, China will be the third country to sample the satellite, after the United States and the former Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.
The Chang’e-5 probe, named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology, entered the moon’s orbit on Saturday after a 112-hour journey from Earth, Xinhua said, after taking off from Hainan province. (south) last week.
“Space dream”
The Chang’e-5 spacecraft will collect two kilos of material from the surface in an unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”), which consists of a vast lava plain, according to the journal Nature.
The probe is expected to collect the material on one lunar day, the equivalent of about 14 days on Earth.
The samples will be sent to Earth in a capsule that is expected to land in the Inner Mongolia (north) region of China between early and mid-December, according to NASA.
This ambitious operation will also allow the Asian giant to test new technologies, essential for sending astronauts to the moon star between now and 2030.
Plans for China’s “space dream”, as President Xi Jinping calls it, have been launched under his rule.
The goal is to reach Europe, Russia and the United States in the milestones of space.
It is not the first time that China has sent a probe to the moon under the Chang’e program.
A Chinese drone landed on the other side of the moon in January 2019, in a world first that fueled Beijing’s aspirations to become a space superpower.
Ambitious goals set by the Chinese government include creating a super-powerful rocket capable of carrying heavier payloads than NASA and the private company SpaceX can handle, a lunar base and a manned permanent space station.
Chinese astronauts and scientists have also faced the possibility of sending manned missions to Mars.
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