Lunar probe to launch in November
Print Edition
CHINA plans to launch its Chang’e-5 lunar probe from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan Province at the end of November.
It will be carried into space on a Long March-5 rocket.
Among the mission’s firsts will be China’s first automated moon surface sampling, first moon take-off, and first unmanned docking in a lunar orbit about 380,000 kilometers from Earth, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
“With a weight of 8.2 tons, the lunar probe is comprised of four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander,” said Ye Peijian, one of China’s leading aerospace experts and a consultant to the program.
The lander will put moon samples in a vessel in the ascender after the moon landing. Then the ascender will take off from the moon to dock with the orbiter and the returner orbiting the moon, and transfer the samples to the returner.
The orbiter and returner then start to head back to Earth, separating from each other when they are several thousands kilometers away.
The development of Chang’e-5 has entered the end of its flight model phase, and relevant work is proceeding smoothly, according to CASC.
China plans to fulfill three strategic steps with the launch of Chang’e-5, “orbiting, landing and returning.”
“The country plans to send robots to explore both lunar poles,” said the China National Space Administration’s vice director Wu Yanhua late last year, adding that plans to send astronauts to the moon were also being discussed.
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