China’s Chang’e-5

  • China launched the Chang’e-5 lunar probe from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern province of Hainan.
  • The Long March-5, the country’s largest carrier rocket, carried the Chang’e-5 spacecraft.
  • China’s Chang’e-5 lunar mission became the first probe in over four decades to bring back samples of lunar rock from a previously unexplored portion of the Moon.
  • Early in 2019, China’s Chang’e-4 probe successfully transmitted images from the far side of the Moon, also referred to as the dark side.
  • This was the first probe to land in this portion of the Moon.
CHANG'E-5
  • Chang’e-5 probe is named after the Chinese Moon goddess,
  • It is the Chinese National Space Administration’s (CNSA) lunar sample return mission.
  • The goal of the mission is to land in the Mons Rumker region of the moon,
  • It will operate in the region for one lunar day, which is two weeks long.
  • It will return a 2 kg sample of the lunar rock possibly by digging about 2 metres deep into the surface of the Moon.
  • The mission comprises a lunar orbiter, a lander and an ascent probe that will lift the lunar samples back into orbit and return them back to Earth.

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