CHANG’E 5 LUNAR PROBE

Subject : Science & tech

Context :A Chinese space capsule bringing back the first moon rocks in more than four decades started its three-day return to Earth on Sunday.

Concept :

The Long March-5 Y5 rocket, carrying the Chang’e-5 spacecraft, was launched from Wenchang Space Launch Center (China).
Objective : To drill 2 meters beneath the moon’s surface and scoop up about 2 kilograms of rocks and other debris to be brought back to Earth.
It will help scientists learn about:

Moon’s origins,

Volcanic activity on its surface and its interior, and

When its magnetic field, key to protecting any form of life from the sun’s radiation dissipated.

Functioning:

Upon entering the moon’s orbit, the spacecraft is intended to deploy a pair of vehicles to the lunar surface, a lander and an ascender.
A lander will drill into the ground, then transfer its soil and rock samples to an ascender that will lift off and dock with an orbiting module.
There will be an attempt to collect 2 kg of samples in a previously unvisited area in a massive lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum, or “Ocean of Storms”.
Area of the moon where the spacecraft is due to land is 1-2 billion years old.
If this is successful, the samples will be transferred to a return capsule that will return them to Earth, with a landing in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
The entire mission is scheduled to take around 23 days.
If the mission is completed as planned, it would make China only the third country to have retrieved lunar samples, joining the United States and the Soviet Union.

China’s Moon Missions:

China made its first lunar landing in 2013.
In January 2019, the Chang’e-4 probe touched down on the far side of the moon, the first by any nation’s space probe.
Chang’e is a series of lunar probes launched by China National Space administration.

China’s Other Space Plans:

It aims to have a permanent manned space station in service by around 2022.
Within the next decade, China plans to establish a robotic base station to conduct unmanned exploration in the south polar region of the moon.
It is to be developed through the Chang’e-6, 7 and 8 missions through the 2020s.

Other Important Mission to Moon: