China’s moon mission makes a lunar touchdown, ready for Chang’e 5 to collect rocks and soil
- Lander and ascender vehicle arrive to drill into the surface for samples
- Orbiter will continue circling the moon, waiting for the lander to finish sampling
China achieved a major milestone in its ambitious mission to bring home moon rocks with a successful soft lunar landing on Tuesday.
“Just now, the Chang’e 5 landing craft successfully landed in the preselected landing zone,” Xinhua reported.
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China's Chang'e 5 moon mission makes a lunar touchdown, ready to collect rocks and soil
The latitude of the sampling point was also based on considerations such as solar light intensity and temperature. The location will help reduce fuel consumption for the ascender to bring the sample back to the orbit.
The lander is expected to drill as deep as 2m (6.6 feet) for rock cores and use a robotic arm to collect 2kg (4.4 pounds) of surface samples in its protective capsules over two weeks.
In the meantime, the orbiter will keep circling the moon, waiting for the lander to finish sampling before ascending to the orbit and redocking. Then the mission will launch from the lunar orbit and return to Earth. It is expected to land in China’s northern region of Inner Mongolia in mid-December.
