China’s spacecraft brings home moon samples
BEIJING The return capsule of China’s Chang’e5 probe touched down on Earth in the early hours of Thursday, bringing back the country’s first samples collected from the moon, as well as the world’s freshest lunar samples in over 40 years.
The spacecraft landed in Siziwang Banner, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at 1:59 a.m. (Beijing Time), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Zhang Kejian, head of the CNSA, declared the Chang’e5 mission a success. It marks a successful conclusion of China’s current threestep lunar exploration program of orbiting and landing, and bringing back samples, which began in 2004.
Under ground control, the return capsule separated from the orbiter about 5,000 km above the Atlantic. The capsule entered the Earth’s atmosphere at an altitude of about 120 km and a speed of about 11.2 km per second at 1:33 a.m. After aerodynamic deceleration, it skipped out of the atmosphere. Then the capsule reentered the atmosphere to perform aerodynamic deceleration a second time. At about 10 km above ground, a parachute opened. The capsule landed smoothly in the predetermined area, and the search team recovered it.
The capsule is set to be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the moon samples will be delivered to the research team for analysis and study, said the CNSA. China will make some of the samples available to scientists in other countries, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of CNSA, has said. Chang’e5 is one of the most complicated and challenging missions in China’s aerospace history. The probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner, was launched on Nov. 24, and its landerascender combination touched down on the north of the Mons Rumker in Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms, on the near side of the moon on Dec. 1. This site was chosen because it had a younger geological age than the sampling areas of the United States and the Soviet Union more than 40 years ago, and had never been sampled. The new samples will be of great scientific value, said researchers.
Though lunar samples were brought back in US and Soviet missions, scientists need more samples of different ages to piece together a complete history of the moon. Chang’e5 drilled into the lunar surface for samples that record evolutionary events, and grabbed material on the surface. Using modern analytical technologies, scientists will be able to unravel the mysteries of volcanic activities and meteorite impacts over the past billion years. The probe has collected material at different sites to ensure the diversity of the samples. After the samples were sealed, the probe’s ascender successfully took off from the moon and docked with the orbiterreturner combination in lunar orbit.
(Xinhua)