Chang’e-5 Collected 1.7 kg of Lunar Materials
BEIJING (CNSA PR) — On the morning of December 19, the National Space Administration held a lunar sample handover ceremony for the lunar exploration project Chang’e 5 mission in Beijing. Together with some participating units, they witnessed the handover of the samples to the mission ground application system, marking that the Chang’e 5 mission was completed The implementation phase has officially shifted to a new stage of scientific research, which kicked off our country’s first extraterrestrial celestial body sample storage, analysis and research work.
At the handover ceremony, Zhang Kejian, director of the National Space Administration and commander-in-chief of the lunar exploration project, handed over the Chang’e-5 sample container to Hou Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and handed over the sample certificate.
After preliminary measurements, the Chang’e-5 mission collected about 1,731 grams [3.82 lb] of lunar samples. After the samples are safely transported to the lunar sample laboratory, the scientific research personnel of the ground application system will carry out the storage, preparation and processing of the lunar samples as planned, and start scientific research.
The National Space Administration will subsequently publicly release the Lunar Sample Management Measures and related management policies for the Chang’e-5 mission, organize sample management, coordinate and promote sample scientific research, encourage more domestic and foreign scientists to participate, strive to obtain more scientific results, and carry out mission-related tasks. Public science and cultural exchanges.
On November 24, the Chang’e-5 probe was launched into orbit and experienced earth-moon transfer, near-moon braking, two-by-two separation, stable moon landing, drilling meter sampling, lunar take-off, rendezvous and docking, sample transfer, round-the-moon waiting.
During the phases of lunar-ground transfer and re-entry and recovery, after 23 days of work in orbit, the returner carried lunar samples and landed in the planned area of Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia on December 17. The mission was a complete success.
Since then, the Chang’e-5 returner was safely transported to Beijing, and the opening of the cabin and related processing work was completed. The scientific and technical personnel successfully took out the lunar sample container.
9 responses to “Chang’e-5 Collected 1.7 kg of Lunar Materials”
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Only 379 kilograms to go to over take the United States. Of course when SpaceX starts flying the Starship there the return mass will be measured in the kilotons.
Lunar Starships won’t be returning to Earth that will be the job of Orion. So no.
You are willing to wait long enough for an Orion to fly? Wow, I would rather see it happen in my lifetime.
You are thinking of the outdated NASA program, if it ever reaches the Moon. I am referring to the private space firms that will use the Starship to travel to and from the Moon. Starship has the ability to land with 50 kilotons of cargo, either from the Moon, Mars or Asteroid at a proper spaceport.
Orion, it it flies, will be lucky to land a couple hundred kilograms in the ocean.
You were talking about returning kilotons to Earth. With what vehicle? Lunar Starship? Let’s do the math on how many Starship flights required to fly out to lunar orbit to refuel the first Starship so it can fly back to Earth. And how many Starship refueling flights from Earth to tankers heading to the moon. Dozens of Starship flights would be required to fly a single Lunar Starship back to the Earth.
Only plan that makes any sense would be a small return vehicle in cargo bay of Lunar Starship that does the Earth return. And that will not be returning kilotons.
Another scenario would be a Starship flying to lunar orbit to rendezvous with first Starship. I’m going to assume that if it doesn’t have to do lunar descent it might have enough fuel to return to Earth but I have no idea if that’s the case. The operational logistics of flying cargo back from the moon on a single Starship requires maybe more than a dozen Starship flights. That’s bonkers.
I did miss the kilotons in my previous comment, apologies. I don’t see the utility of kilotons of Lunar material delivered to Earth in the near future. The more distant future may see some material of sufficient value to make it worth the effort. He3, platinum group etc…
By the time it becomes useful (or if of course) to return kilotons to Earth there are several scenarios. One is that the kilotons are over several years for several purposes in which case operational Starships could be feasible. Another is that Starship allows enough delivery to the Lunar surface for serious manufacturing. Lunar built heat shields along with Lunar propellant. Plus mass driver/spin launch/Lunar cannon options could get the job done.
However, demand must come first.
Yes, finding demand at a price to pay the shipping cost will be the challenge for entrepreneurs.
You are hopelessly lost in the Old Space mindset. At 2-3 million dollars a launch tankers will not be a barrier. They will fly daily to fill up a fuel depot, then the lunar starships just fill up at it on the way out or returning as needed. It is why Elon Musk is using Stainless Steel and spending so much time on the Raptor, so it flies like an airliner.
Osiris Rex might actually return more than that from Bennu. That’s a surprisingly small amount.