China lands on the Moon to scratch the surface
China’s Chang’e-5 probe has successfully landed on the Moon following its separation and descent from a spacecraft in lunar orbit.
The news was trumpeted by Chinese state media and confirmed by enthusiasts looking out for signals from the spacecraft.
The landing follows earlier successful missions to the Moon by the Chinese space programme, although Chang’e-5 does not feature a rover this time around. The goal of this mission is the collection of approximately 2kg of stones and soil (including samples from 2 metres down) to be returned to Earth for study.
The whole process from initiation of powered descent to a soft landing took approximately 15 minutes, with enthusiasts following the action before official confirmation that the lander was down safely.
Samples will be collected over the next few days before the ascent stage lifts off to rendezvous with the waiting orbiter. The samples will then be transferred to a return vehicle and sent back to Earth for a landing in the middle of December.
It is a convoluted process, and not dissimilar to the Apollo lunar missions, except on a considerably smaller (and uncrewed) scale with the added twist of a fully robotic docking in lunar orbit.
A successful mission will pave the way for future Chang’e spacecraft and a possible crewed jaunt to the lunar surface in the next decade or so.
Read more at www.theregister.com
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Joseph Olson
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NASA never returned a Surveyor Lunar robot. Russian Luna robots 16, 20 and 24 claimed to have returned to Earth with tiny Lunar samples.. Now, with 50 years of propulsion, telemetry improvements, China hopes to bring back 5 pounds of rock.
“Perplexing Apollo Questions for NASA” > formerly at FauxScienceSlayer
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Brian James
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Yes they did. Nov 28, 2020 China successfully launches rover to the moon
China has successfully launched a rover to the moon which will mine and collect samples to return to earth by mid-December, if the mission is successful China will become the third country to achieve this.
https://youtu.be/6xsnHXflKvA
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Ali
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Totally FAKE MOON LANDING. As did NASA with apollo fake moon landing.
The image was shot in a ‘hollywood’ style film studio. No one has ever been to the moon.
Wake up, Folks!
(i knew some of you will be offended, i don’t care.)
THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE.
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