Chang’e-5 lunar mission is the Chinese National Space Administration’s (CNSA) lunar sample return mission. The objective of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon, where it will operate for one lunar day and return a 2 kg sample of the lunar rock. It is the first sample return mission of China.
Key Points
- The robotic space-craft was successfully launched on November 24 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island in China.
- The Chang’e-5 probe, which is named after the Chinese goddess of Moon, will become the first probe in over four decades to bring back samples of lunar rock from the unexplored region.
- The mission includes a lunar orbiter, a lander and an ascent probe to lift lunar samples. It also possesses a robotic arm, a coring drill, camera, penetrating radar and a spectrometer.
- The entire mission is expected to take 23 days.
- It is the first lunar sample-return mission to be launched since Luna 24 that was launched in 1976.
- If the mission becomes successful then China will become the third country after USA and USSR to return samples from Moon.
China, which conducted the 1st landing on the moon last year and in July of this year have launched a robotic probe to Mars. China is aiming to have a permanent manned space station in service by the year 2022.
Sample-return mission of USA and USSR
The United States landed 12 astronauts in its Apollo programme over six flights from 1969 to 1972, and brought back 382 kg of soil and rocks.
The Soviet Union deployed 3 robotic lunar sample-return missions in the 1970s. The last one of them was the Luna 24, which brought around 170 grams of samples in the year 1976 from a region called Mare Crisium.