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“At 22:00 on December 2 (14:00 in Lisbon), after 19 hours of operation on the lunar surface, Chang’e 5 successfully completed the collection of the samples, which had already been packed and stored, as planned,” the body said in a statement posted online.
The samples were collected on the surface of the Moon, using a robotic arm, and underground, with a drill that pierced two meters, to obtain various samples that can date back to very different periods.
The collected material was stored in a vacuum sealed container to “ensure it is not affected by external conditions” on its return to Earth, the statement said.
Chang’e 5 is expected to return to Earth in the next few hours. The probe is expected to land in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China later this month.
On Tuesday, the spacecraft successfully landed in the area north of Mons Rümker, at Oceanus Procellarum, an area not yet visited by astronauts or unmanned space missions.
Although the main task is to take samples, the spacecraft is also equipped to extensively photograph the area around the landing site, map the conditions below the surface, with a radar penetrating into the ground and analyze the lunar soil for minerals.
It is the latest feat of the Chinese space program, which sent its first astronaut to space in 2003 and which has a spacecraft en route to Mars. The program ultimately aims to place a human on the moon.
If successful, it will be the first time scientists have obtained new moon rock samples since a Soviet probe landed on the moon in the 1970s.
Chang’e 5 was launched on November 24 by the Long March-5 rocket, which has already launched, on July 23, the first Chinese mission to Mars, Tianwen-1, which is expected to arrive on the red planet in May.
Chang’e 5 is the third probe to successfully land on the Moon. The predecessor, Chang’e 4, was the first probe to land on the side of the moon not visible from Earth.
China’s space program advanced more cautiously than the US-Soviet space race of the 1960s, which was marked by deaths and launch failures.
In 2003, China became the third country to send an astronaut to space, after the Soviet Union and the United States.
China, along with Japan and India, has also joined the race to explore Mars. The Tianwen 1 probe is on its way to the red planet carrying a probe and a “rover” (explorer vehicle), which will search for traces of water.
Chinese plans call for the construction of a permanent space station after 2022, which could be served by a reusable space plane.
The Asian country has collaborated on several projects with the European Space Agency, but the exchange with the American agency NASA is limited by concerns about the opaque nature and close military ties of the Chinese program.
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