China launches lunar probe to recover samples from the far side of the Moon

May 3, 2024 Vaseline stjohnson 0

China launched an unmanned lunar probe on Friday that it hopes will make it the first nation to recover samples from the far side of the Moon.

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China is aiming to become the first nation to recover samples from the far side of the Moon with an ambitious mission to send a probe to the unexplored region that launched on Friday.

The launch of the unmanned mission is a key part of China’s goal to become a space power and ultimately send its own astronauts to the lunar surface in the coming years. The far side of the Moon is shrouded in mystery, and China hopes that by obtaining and returning samples, the nation will gain key information about how and why it is so different from the near side, according to multiple reports.

Friday’s launch also comes amid an intensifying multinational space race among countries like India, Japan and the United States that have their sights set on the Moon. Space agencies around the world view the Moon as a valuable destination because of the resources it provides to aid future deep space exploration and missions to Mars.

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Chinese Chang’e-6 probe on 53-day mission

The Chang’e-6 lunar probe, named after the mythical Chinese lunar goddess, was carried aboard a rocket that lifted off at 5:27 p.m. Friday from the Wenchang launch center on southern Hainan Island. from China.

The spacecraft carrying the lander separated from the Chinese Long March-5 rocket in about 35 minutes as spectators gathered to witness the historic moment, which was also televised live on state broadcaster CCTV. The country’s National Space Administration said the launch was a success, several media outlets reported.

The planned 53-day mission comes after China in 2013 became the first country to achieve a robotic lunar landing in nearly four decades, and two years after the nation completed its own orbital space station, Tiangong, in 2022 to rival the International Space Station. .

The spacecraft carrying the Chang’e-6 lander is expected to take about five days to reach the far side of the Moon, which never faces Earth, where it will then orbit for another 20, according to reports. Within 48 hours of landing, the lander will drill into the surface and collect samples with a robotic arm before preparing for a return trip to Earth, the Associated Press reported.

The mission follows another in 2020, when its predecessor, Chang’e-5, gathered nearly four pounds of regolith from the moon’s near side and brought it back to Earth. By analyzing the samples, Chinese scientists hope to find out why the two sides of the Moon are so different, Ge Ping, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center of the China National Space Administration, told reporters last week ( CNSA). site, according to CNN.

The main goal of China’s space program is to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, four years after American astronauts are scheduled to return to the lunar surface in 2026 for the first time since the Apollo era ended five decades ago.

Japanese lunar lander takes off for the Moon

China’s mission is the latest in a series of lunar missions designed to orbit or land on the moon’s surface.

Last year, India landed its first spacecraft, Chandrayaan-3, on the Moon around the same time as Russia’s first lunar mission in decades ended in failure when its Luna 25 probe crashed into the lunar surface.

In January, Japan became the fifth country to land an unmanned spacecraft on the lunar surface, joining India, the United States, Russia/Soviet Union and China. That lander continues to hum around the surface, far exceeding its odds of survival more than three months since it touched down.

NASA plans future US lunar missions via Artemis

In the case of the United States, American astronauts have not set foot on the moon since the last Apollo mission in 1972. NASA’s Artemis program hopes to return the nation to the lunar surface to establish a base of operations before the manned trips to Mars.

But Artemis has been mired in delays and controversy, as elected officials and other aeronautics experts have raised concerns about the scope and cost of the ambitious program.

Before humans can return to the moon, NASA needed to ensure that an American probe could reach the lunar surface to pave the way for its arrival.

Those hopes were initially dashed in January when an unmanned craft designed by Pittsburgh-based aerospace company Astrobotic encountered a series of problems. The Peregrine lander never reached the moon, but a month later came a second chance for the United States.

The Odysseus lander designed by Houston-based Intuitive Machines had its own side landing on February 22, but still reached the surface and transmitted data.

NASA, which was the mission’s primary customer, paid a considerable sum to include a payload of scientific instruments aboard the lander to collect data that will help the agency prepare for future lunar missions.

A week after landing near the south pole, Odysseus was about to go out forever. In its final update on March 23, Intuitive Machines determined that Odysseus’ power had been depleted and that the craft had “gone permanently missing after cementing its legacy in history as the first commercial lunar lander to land on the moon.” “.

Eric Lagatta covers the latest news and trends for USA TODAY. Contact him at [email protected]