The Chinese probe managed to land on the surface of the Moon | The world | DW



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The Chang’e-5 probe “landed on the visible side of the moon on Tuesday afternoon,” the state news agency said, citing the Chinese National Space Administration.

China has invested billions of dollars in its space program, hoping to have a manned space station by 2022 and eventually send humans to the moon. The mission’s goal is to bring back samples of moon dust and rocks, to help scientists better understand the Moon’s origins, its formation, and the volcanic activity on its surface.

Two kilos of research material

If successful, China will be the third country to sample the satellite, after the United States in the 1960s and the former Soviet Union in the 1970s.

The Chang’e-5 spacecraft will collect two pounds of material from the surface in an unexplored area known as Oceanus Procellarum – or “Ocean of Storms” – which consists of a vast lava plain, according to Nature Magazine. 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 due to the earth in the Inner Mongolia (north) region of China in early December, according to NASA.

jov (afp, cctv)

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