by neufer » Sat Dec 05, 2020 2:32 pm
RocketRon wrote: ↑Sat Dec 05, 2020 5:32 am
So if you squint a bit ....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_5 wrote:
<<Chang'e 5 is an ongoing robotic mission of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. It was launched on 23 November 2020 at 20:30 UTC and landed on the Moon on 1 December 2020, with an expected return to Earth around 16 December 2020. Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming to return at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to the Earth. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang'e
The lander and ascending vehicle landed on the Moon on 1 December 2020 at 15:11 UTC. The mission's landing zone is near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), located in the northwest region of the Moon's near side. This area contains geological units around 1.21 billion years old, compared to the Apollo samples that were between 3.1 and 4.4 billion years old. The location is a large, elevated volcanic mound 70 km in diameter that features a strong spectroscopic signature of basaltic lunar mare material. The young age of the samples is valuable to scientists who can use them to better calibrate techniques for estimating the ages of geological surfaces on planets, moons and asteroids throughout the Solar System.
The mission consists of four modules or components: the lander collected about 2 kg of samples from 2 m below the surface and placed them in an attached ascent vehicle that was launched into lunar orbit on 3 December, 2020. The ascent vehicle will make an automatic rendezvous and docking with an orbiter that would transfer the samples into a sample-return capsule for their delivery to Earth. The orbiter will begin the roughly 4.5-day trip back to Earth and release the reentry capsule just before arrival. If all goes according to plan the reentry capsule will perform a skip reentry to bounce off the atmosphere once before reentering.
The estimated launch mass is 8,200 kg, the lander is projected to be 1,200 kg and the ascent vehicle is about 500 kg. On December 3, the Chang'e 5 ascender lifted off from Oceanus Procellarum at 15:10 GMT and six minutes later, achieved lunar orbit.
Unlike Chang'e 4 which was equipped with a radioisotope heater unit to survive the extreme cold of lunar night, the Chang'e-5 landing and sampling need to take place within a single, 14-Earth-day lunar daytime. The total mission is expected to last a total of 23 days until landing in Dorbod Banner, Inner Mongolia, around 16 December 2020. Samples would then be transferred to specially developed facilities for handling, analyzing, and storing the lunar material.>>
[quote=RocketRon post_id=308693 time=1607146336]
So if you squint a bit ....[/quote][quote=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_5]
[float=right][img3=Mons Rümker (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter image)]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Mons_R%C3%BCmker_%28LROC-WAC_Nearside_mosaic%29.png[/img3][img3=Chang'e 5 landing]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/57/5386897742-JwCDRjkmU.jpg/1920px-5386897742-JwCDRjkmU.jpg[/img3][/float]
<<Chang'e 5 is an ongoing robotic mission of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. It was launched on 23 November 2020 at 20:30 UTC and landed on the Moon on 1 December 2020, with an expected return to Earth around 16 December 2020. Chang'e 5 will be China's first sample return mission, aiming to return at least 2 kilograms of lunar soil and rock samples back to the Earth. Like its predecessors, the spacecraft is named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang'e
The lander and ascending vehicle landed on the Moon on 1 December 2020 at 15:11 UTC. The mission's landing zone is near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms), located in the northwest region of the Moon's near side. This area contains geological units around 1.21 billion years old, compared to the Apollo samples that were between 3.1 and 4.4 billion years old. The location is a large, elevated volcanic mound 70 km in diameter that features a strong spectroscopic signature of basaltic lunar mare material. The young age of the samples is valuable to scientists who can use them to better calibrate techniques for estimating the ages of geological surfaces on planets, moons and asteroids throughout the Solar System.
The mission consists of four modules or components: the lander collected about 2 kg of samples from 2 m below the surface and placed them in an attached ascent vehicle that was launched into lunar orbit on 3 December, 2020. The ascent vehicle will make an automatic rendezvous and docking with an orbiter that would transfer the samples into a sample-return capsule for their delivery to Earth. The orbiter will begin the roughly 4.5-day trip back to Earth and release the reentry capsule just before arrival. If all goes according to plan the reentry capsule will perform a skip reentry to bounce off the atmosphere once before reentering.
The estimated launch mass is 8,200 kg, the lander is projected to be 1,200 kg and the ascent vehicle is about 500 kg. On December 3, the Chang'e 5 ascender lifted off from Oceanus Procellarum at 15:10 GMT and six minutes later, achieved lunar orbit.
Unlike Chang'e 4 which was equipped with a radioisotope heater unit to survive the extreme cold of lunar night, the Chang'e-5 landing and sampling need to take place within a single, 14-Earth-day lunar daytime. The total mission is expected to last a total of 23 days until landing in Dorbod Banner, Inner Mongolia, around 16 December 2020. Samples would then be transferred to specially developed facilities for handling, analyzing, and storing the lunar material.>>[/quote]