Mars Planet Technology
China’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission probe touches down China’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission probe touches down
China has successfully put another probe on the Moon. Its robotic Chang’e-5 mission touched down a short while ago with the aim of collecting... China’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission probe touches down

China has successfully put another probe on the Moon. Its robotic Chang’e-5 mission touched down a short while ago with the aim of collecting samples of rock and dust to bring back to Earth. Unlike the launch of the mission a week ago, the landing was not covered live by Chinese TV channels. The US space agency congratulated China.

The 8.2-tonne Chang’e-5 spacecraft «stack» was launched from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China on 24 November . Chang’e-5’s success follows China’s two previous Moon landings – those of Chang’e-3 in 2013 and Chang’e-4 last year. A total of just under 400kg of rock and soil were retrieved by American Apollo astronauts and the Soviets’ robotic Luna programme – the vast majority of these materials coming back with the crewed missions. Chang’e-5 would offer a further data point.

Reports from China suggest the effort to retrieve surface samples may last no longer than a couple of days. This is where China’s astronauts also return to Earth. «Chang’e-5 is a very complex mission,» commented Dr James Carpenter, exploration science coordinator for human and robotic exploration at the European Space Agency.

Credit BBC

Condividi:
Google+Tweet about this on Twittershare on TumblrShare on FacebookPin on Pinterest

No comments so far.

Be first to leave comment below.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *