China launches spacecraft to Moon to collect lunar samples, first attempt after US and Soviet Union

China has successfully launched an unmanned spacecraft to the moon on November 24, 2020, to collect samples and bring them back to Earth. The spacecraft has been was launched by a Long March-5 rocket at 4.30 am (Beijing Time). 

Named after the ancient Chinese Goddess of the moon, Chang’e-5 probe has been launched by China from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the Southern Province of Hainan. It will seek on collecting the materials from the moon. It will also help the scientists to understand more about its origin and surface.

If China becomes successful in its mission, it will become the third country to retrieve moon samples, following the Soviet Union and the United States decades ago. The mission will also be testing China’s ability to remotely acquire the samples from space.

It will be the first attempt by any nation in the world for retrieving the samples from the natural satellite of Earth since the 1970s. China also plans on retrieving the samples from Mars by 2030. In July 2020, China had also launched an unmanned probe to Mars. It was its first independent mission to another planet. 

With Chang’e 5, China has launched an effort to join the U.S. & the former Soviet Union in obtaining lunar samples. We hope China shares its data with the global scientific community to enhance our understanding of the Moon like our Apollo missions did & the Artemis program will. pic.twitter.com/mPjG4FE0qQ

— NASA (@NASA) November 23, 2020

About China’s Chang’e-5 probe: Key Details

• Chang'e-5 is one of the most challenging and complicated missions in the aerospace history of China, as well as, the world's first moon sample mission in more than 40 years. 

• China’s unmanned spacecraft to the moon which is scheduled to launch in the coming days will attempt at collecting 2 kg (4 ½ pounds) of samples in the previous unvisited areas in a massive lava plain which is known as ‘Oceanus Procellarum’ or ‘Ocean of Storms’.

• Once the spacecraft is in Moon’s orbit, it will aim at deploying a pair of vehicles to the surface. Under this a lander will drill into the ground, then will transfer its rock samples and oil to an ascender that will lift off and then dock with an orbiting module.

• If the procedure is successful, the lunar samples will be transferred to the return capsule that will then return them to Earth.

What is the significance of China’s mission in future exploration?

China’s Chang’e- 5 mission may help in finding answers to the questions such as how long the moon remained volcanically active in its interior and when did its magnetic field- key to protecting any of life from the radiation of the sun- dissipated.

According to the planetary scientist at Brown University, James Head, the Apollo-Luna (Mission by the US and the Soviet Union) sample zone of the moon, while critical to the understanding was undertaken in the area that has far less than half the lunar surface.

He continued that data from the orbital remote sensing missions had shown a wider diversity of mineralogies, rock types, and ages that were represented in sample collections of Apollo-Luna.

Lunar scientists have been promoting robotic rock sample- return missions to many different critical areas of the moon for addressing a host of fundamental questions that remained from earlier explorations.

China on the moon and its future missions:

In 2013, China had made its first lunar landing and in January 2019, China’s Chang’-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, which was the first by any nation’s space probe.

China, within the next decade, plans on establishing a robotic base station for conducting an unmanned exploration in the south polar region. It has to be developed through Chang’e- 6, 7, and 8 missions through the 2020s and will be expanded through the 2030s ahead of the manned landings.

Earlier lunar rock retrieval by US and Soviet Union:

In 1959, since the Soviet Union crash-landed the Luna-2 on the moon, which was also the first human-made object to reach another celestial body, a handful of other countries which includes India and Japan have also launched moon missions.

In the Apollo Programme of the United States, which had first put men on the moon, the country had landed 12 astronauts over six flights from 1969 to 1972, who brought back 382 kg (842 pounds) of soil and rocks.

In the 1970s, the Soviet Union had deployed three successful robotic sample return missions. In 1976, the last one, Luna 24 had brought back 170.1 grams (6 ounces) of samples from Marie Crisium or ‘Sea of Crises’.