The Chinese spacecraft “Chang E5” returned safely to Earth after taking samples from the Moon

The Chinese autonomous spacecraft “Chang E5” which was sent to the moon last month successfully completed its mission and safely delivered samples of lunar soil and rocks weighing about two kilograms to Earth.

The “Return Module” of this space mission will land tonight (between December 16th and 17th) at 1:59 PM local time of Beijing from Xiziwang Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia in Northern China. Landed in a snowy field by a large parachute. Then it was 10:59 PM in Pakistan.

It should be noted that this is the first space mission in 44 years since Russia’s “Leona 24” mission in 1976, which has successfully returned to Earth by collecting soil and rock samples from the Moon.

The final stage of the four-module Chang’e-5 space mission was carried out by its fourth return module, which stored samples of lunar soil and rocks.

Zhang Kejian, head of China National Space Administration (CNSA), declared the Chang E5 mission a complete success and said that the soil and rocks brought from the moon. Part of the samples will also be available to scientists from other countries to promote international cooperation in the field of space research.

The Chang’e-5 mission is part of a broader Chinese space plan to land Chinese astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Unconventional landing

Zhang Kejian told the official Xinhua News Agency that the return module of the Chang’e-5 was brought down to earth in a particularly unconventional manner under the instructions of ground control.

It first separated from its orbiter at an altitude of 5,000 km above the Earth and began to gradually approach the Earth, reducing its orbit to a smaller one.

Then when this terrestrial sphere entered Hawaii, it was about 120 km above the surface of the earth while it was moving at a speed of 11.2 km per second.

Using the resistance of the Earth’s atmosphere and its special structure, the lander module first decelerated and then exited the atmosphere. But shortly afterwards it re-entered the air sphere, at a significantly lower speed than before.

Due to adopting this unique method, the external temperature of the lander capsule of “Chang E5” did not increase too much and the process of its landing on the earth was also safer.

When it was finally only 10 km (10,000 m) above the ground, it opened its large parachute and slowly descended to a predetermined location.

The staff of the Chinese Space Agency here transported the lander module by special vehicles to a nearby airport, where the module was delivered to Beijing by a special plane.

Scientists hope that the study of the soil and rocks of the moon will help us to know some new things not only about our moon but also about the Earth and other planets of the solar system.