Published 06:43 IST, December 20th 2020
Chinese lunar probe Chang'e-5's moon rock samples handed over to researchers
In the aftermath of collection, Chinese scientists would now carry out the storage, analysis, and research of China's first samples collected from the moon.
Marking another leap in space exploration, Moon samples collected by China's Chang’e 5 probe have been transferred to Chinese research teams. A capsule carrying the lunar regolith landed in inner Mongolia at 1: 59 am on December 17. As per the researchers, Change-5 has brought back as much as 1,731 grams of moon samples, China National Space Administration said.
Storage, analysis and research
In the aftermath of collection, the scientists would now carry out the storage, analysis, and research of the country’s first samples collected from the extraterrestrial object. Previously, researchers said that they expected the samples to provide insight into the geology and history of the moon. Located 384,400 km away from earth, Moon is believed to have been formed by Earth's collision with other planets and celestial objects.
Chang'e-5 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender, and a returner, was launched on November 24, and its lander-ascender 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 December 1. If successful, this would mark the first spacecraft to bring lunar regolith since the Soviet’s Union’s Luna 24 probe in 1976.
This is the first time a Chinese spacecraft has carried out rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. Chang'e-5 is one of the most complicated and challenging missions in Chinese aerospace history, as well as the world's first moon-sample mission in more than 40 years.
China is in the midst of a series of increasingly ambitious space missions including a probe en route to Mars and the development of a reusable spaceplane. Plans call for returning a human to the moon five decades after American astronauts.
Speaking about the mission to Xinhua, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Centre of the CNSA said, "China chose a complicated technological approach, including unmanned rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, in order to bring back more samples and lay a technological foundation for manned lunar missions."
Image: Xinhua
Updated 06:43 IST, December 20th 2020