China's Chang'e-5 successfully lands on moon to collect samples:
In the next two days, the lander will collect about two kilograms of lunar samples.
The Chang'e-5 probe includes a lander, ascender, orbiter, and returner. After the spacecraft entered the circular lunar orbit 200 kilometers above the moon, the lander-and-ascender pair split, descended, and landed at the planned area on the moon.
The lander will shovel some surface material and also drill a two-meter-deep hole and scoop up the soil from inside it, which will act like an archive of the moon, with the bottom recording information from a billion years ago and the top more closely reflecting the present day.
The samples will then be stored in the ascender, which will lift off from the lunar surface to transfer the moon samples to the returner and orbiter waiting in the lunar orbit. The unmanned rendezvous and docking in the lunar orbit will also be the first such task conducted by China.
Then, at a proper time, the returner will separate from the orbiter and carry the samples back to Earth, which will finally land in North China's Inner Mongolia.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 01 2020, @11:51PM (1 child)
Pesky Chinese beat us again. Space Force!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2020, @03:05PM
they're insects, JUST LOOK AT THEM.
Of course they're on the moon, where the fuck else would they go, Kansas?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday December 02 2020, @12:47AM
Or the Jade Rabbit, either one works.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2020, @03:59AM (2 children)
Trump and Covid are dominating the news cycle for the next couple of weeks (and probably longer). The Chinese aren't going to get the big propaganda hit they were expecting.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2020, @04:27PM (1 child)
Hey, there are mods from China here, welcome! (based on the -1, Offtopic mod at this time).
Parent still makes sense to me.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday December 02 2020, @07:17PM
Alternative hypothesis: Trump and Covid actually are Off-Topic.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2020, @05:48AM
China steals American rocks - what's Joe Biden gonna do about it????? Pusssssy Obama's cuck.
(Score: 2) by ElizabethGreene on Wednesday December 02 2020, @03:30PM (1 child)
The last lander in this series was the first time anyone had grown plants on the moon. Exciting stuff!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday December 02 2020, @05:34PM
Watching plants grow is better than watching paint dry, I'll give you that.