Chang鈥檈-5鈥檚 success to fuel more missions
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FOLLOWING the successful return of moon rocks by its Chang’e-5 robotic probe, China is preparing for future missions that could set the stage for an eventual scientific research station on the moon, a top space program official said yesterday.
China’s next three lunar missions are on track, along with programs for returning samples from Mars and exploring asteroids and the planet Jupiter, Deputy Chief Commander of the China Lunar Exploration Program Wu Yanhua said.
“Exploring the truth of the universe is just beginning,” Wu said after the Chang’e-5’s capsule parachuted to a landing in Siziwang Banner, north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, at 1:59am yesterday, bringing back the country’s first samples from the moon, as well as the world’s freshest lunar samples in over 40 years.
Named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, the Chang’e program has made three landings there, including on its less explored far side. Chang’e-6, scheduled for a 2023 launch, is to collect more samples from the lunar south pole, while its two successors will conduct detailed surveys and test technologies needed for the construction of a science base on the moon.
The return capsule of Chang’e-5 had earlier separated from its orbiter module and performed a bounce off Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed before passing through and floating to the ground on parachutes. Following recovery, the capsule and its cargo of samples were flown to the space program’s campus in Beijing to begin the process of disassembly and analysis, according to the China National Space Administration.
Footage run by state broadcaster CCTV showed a furry animal, possibly a fox or rodent, running in front of the capsule as it lay on the ground, stopping briefly as if to inquire into the unfamiliar object.
The milestone mission has accomplished several firsts for China, including the first moon sampling, the first liftoff from an extraterrestrial body, the first rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit, and the first spacecraft carrying samples to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere at high speed, the CNSA said in a statement.
It marks a successful conclusion of China’s current three-step lunar exploration program of orbiting, landing and bringing back samples, which began in 2004.
Wu said the latest flight featured collaboration with the European Space Agency, along with Argentina, Namibia, Pakistan and other nations with which Chinese cooperates on monitoring and communicating with its spacecraft. China in the future will “encourage more scientists around the world to participate to obtain more scientific results,” Wu said.
He added China will share data and samples from the moon obtained by the Chang’e-5. “In accordance with international cooperation conventions and multilateral and bilateral cooperation pacts, we will issue rules on managing the moon samples and data,” said Wu. “We will share with the relevant countries and scientists overseas, and some of them may be given as national gifts in accordance with international practices.”
When asked if China would share any samples with the United States, which limits its NASA space agency from directly cooperating with China, Wu said existing US restrictions were “unfortunate.”
“The Chinese government is willing to share lunar samples with like-minded institutions and scientists from various countries,” Wu said. “To be able to cooperate or not depends on US policy,” Wu said.
After the launch on November 24, two of Chang’e-5’s four modules set down on the moon on December 1 and collected about 2 kilograms of samples by scooping them from the surface and drilling 2 meters into the moon’s crust. The samples were deposited in a sealed container that was carried back to the return module by an ascent vehicle.
The newly collected rocks are thought to be billions of years younger than those obtained by the US and former Soviet Union, offering new insights into the history of the moon and other bodies in the solar system. They come from a part of the moon known as the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, near a site called the Mons Rumker that was believed to have been volcanic in ancient times.
The lunar samples will be used to analyze the space weathering, volcanic activities, surrounding topography, and geological evolution on the moon, according to Li Chunlai, researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories.
“We will carry out the sample research in a long run, studying its structure, physical characteristics, chemical composition, isotopic composition, mineral characteristics and geological evolution,” Li said.
People will get a glimpse of the lunar samples. A portion of the precious soils will be displayed at China’s National Museum, and some of them will be preserved in Chairman Mao Zedong’s hometown Shaoshan, Hunan Province, for backup in case of any disaster. It is also a tribute to the late leader who once expressed his aspiration for space in a poem.
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