China’s Chang’e 5 Will Collect the First Moon Rocks in Nearly 40 Years

China is no stranger to lunar missions. Over
the years, the country has sent a number ofincreasingly challenging missions to our natural
satellite. The most famous of which, was thehistoric landing of the Chang’e 4 spacecraft
on the moon’s far side in 2019. But thisnext launch is about to push the limits even
further as Chang’e 5 is headed off to apreviously unexplored lunar region. And this
time, it’s bringing back a souvenir. This is all super exciting because the last
time lunar samples were brought back to Earthwas during the U. S. and Soviet missions in
the 1960s and 1970s. And it’s perfect timing,because there’s now a renewed push for countries
to focus on better understanding the moon’sevolution and even look for potential lunar
activities such as mining or human colonies. And China is well prepared since it’s been
developing two spacecraft for each of thethree phases of its robotic lunar exploration
program: orbiting, landing and finally, samplereturn. And that’s where Chang’e 5 comes in. It’s
China’s first lunar sample return missionand the spacecraft will contain four parts
that make up the whole mission: an orbiter,an ascender, a lander, and an Earth re-entry
module. The orbiter will help place the spacecraftinto the lunar. . . orbit. Once there, the lander
and ascender will separate from the orbiterand land on the near side of the moon, an
unexplored and vast, dark lava plain calledMons Rümker. After touching down, the lander
will drill two meters below the surface, andusing a robotic arm, extract roughly two kilograms
of lunar material. The sample will then bestored in the ascent module, which it will
lift off to autonomously dock with the orbiterand transfer its sample to the return vehicle.
From there, the return module will then separateto make the 5,000 km journey back to Earth,
where it will re-enter the atmosphere fora parachute assisted landing. Soooooo that’s a lot of steps. Which means
there’s a lot that could go wrong. But again,that’s what makes this mission so exciting
because it’s all so very ambitious. Andas if there wasn’t enough pressure already,
time is of the essence. Unlike Chang’e 4 which is an ongoing mission,
this latest endeavour is expected to completeits mission within one lunar day, or roughly
14 Earth days. That’s because come nightfall,the extreme temperature shift could jeopardize
the spacecraft. Originally scheduled to launch back in 2017,
Chang’e 5 is now expected to take off ona Long March-5 rocket at the end of November
2020. And the team won’t have to wait longfor the sample, since it’s expected to arrive
back on Earth by early to mid-December. But why exactly do we want these lunar samples?
I mean we already have some from the Apolloera, why do we need any more? Well, it’s
all about the moon’s evolutionary history. The previous samples were taken from regions
where the moon was believed to have stoppedits volcanic activity some 3. 5 billion years
ago. But new theories believe that there couldbe some areas where lava could have formed
more recently, like one to two billion yearsago. And if the sample that Chang’e 5 collects
proves that the moon was still geologicallyactive at that time, it could change everything
we know about the moon’s history. So nopressure, Chang’e 5. And if it doesn’t succeed, even more complicated
backup missions are already in the works withChang’e 6 and 7 planned for launch in 2023
or 2024. So with all these missions linedup, it’s just good practice for the biggest
challenge of them all: sending humans to the moon. Now, for that momentous occasion, China is looking towards the 2030s to accomplishthat feat, so in the meantime, a couple of
practice runs will hopefully help get readyfor the big day.
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