China has outlined plans for an upcoming flight to the Moon, The Guardian reports:
The spacecraft will consist of four distinct parts: a lander and an ascender, an orbiter and a returner. The lander will descend to the surface of the Moon, collect the samples and place them in the ascender. This will launch and rendezvous with the orbiter and returner, all of which will then journey back towards Earth.
The samples will be transferred to the returner, which will detach from the orbiter and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.
Chang'e-5 is expected to be launched in November 2017.
Additional coverage:
Previous stories:
- China Shoots for First Landing On Dark Side of the Moon
- China Has Had a Telescope On the Moon for the Past Two Years
- Jade Rabbit: China's Moon Rover Dies
Related Stories
Point a telescope at the moon, and you might just see one looking back. Chinese researchers have reported that their robotic telescope, the first of its kind, has been operating flawlessly ever since it landed on the moon in 2013.
The 15-centimetre telescope is mounted on the Chang'e 3 lander, which touched down on the lunar surface in December 2013. Chang'e 3 carried the Yutu rover, which repeatedly struggled to survive the lunar night and ceased working in March this year – but the lander is still going strong.
The telescope sees in ultraviolet light, making it particularly suited for observations that aren't possible here on Earth. "There is no atmosphere on the moon, so unlike Earth, the ultraviolet light from celestial objects can be detected on the moon," says Jing Wang of the National Astronomical Observatories in Beijing, China, who is in charge of the telescope. And since the moon rotates 27 times more slowly than the Earth, the scope can stay fixed on the same star for a dozen days without interruption, he says.
China will launch a mission to land on the dark side of the moon in two years' time, state media reported, in what will be a first for humanity.
The moon's far hemisphere is never directly visible from Earth and while it has been photographed, with the first images appearing in 1959, it has never been explored.
China's Chang'e-4 probe—named for the goddess of the moon in Chinese mythology—will be sent to it in 2018, the official Xinhua news agency reported.
"The Chang'e-4's lander and rover will make a soft landing on the back side of the moon, and will carry out in-place and patrolling surveys," it cited the country's lunar exploration chief Liu Jizhong as saying on Thursday.
Beijing sees its military-run, multi-billion-dollar space programme as a marker of its rising global stature and mounting technical expertise, as well as evidence of the ruling Communist Party's success in transforming the once poverty-stricken nation.
Pfft. The dark side of the moon was done, like, 42 years ago.
The state run news agency, Xinhua, has published a news release.
"I'm the rabbit that has seen the most stars."
New Scientist reports:
The moon just got a little more lonesome. China's State Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) announced today [in Chinese] that its moon rover Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, has finally stopped operating after 31 months on the surface.
Yutu touched down on the lunar surface in December 2013 as part of the Chang'e-3 lander mission, making China the third country to reach the moon after Russia and the United States.
It was prematurely declared dead in February 2014 after a harsh lunar night -- the moon experiences two weeks of dark followed by two of light -- then showed signs of life, but was unable to move. Despite these issues, in October 2015 Yutu claimed the record for the longest operating rover on the moon.
SASTIND says data from Yutu has generated over 100 scientific papers about the moon, including the discovery of a previously unseen layer of lava flows.
Yutu's death isn't the end of China's lunar ambitions. The Chang'e 3 lander, which hosts a robotic telescope, is still going strong, and in 2017 the nation plans to launch a probe to gather moon rocks and bring them back to Earth.
[Continues...]
(Score: 2) by driven on Sunday February 26 2017, @07:39AM
This is exciting. Nice to see progress being made!
Some lunar photos [popsci.com] taken by China's Yutu rover before it died [space.com].
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Sunday February 26 2017, @11:18AM
Yup!
Build a base on the moon, THEN go to Mars.
Or is there a rush to Mars for...... Reasons?
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by khallow on Sunday February 26 2017, @03:39PM
Similarly, it would completely bypass Earth first people who want us to first perfectly fix problems that have been kicking around forever (like poverty and starvation) even though the societies that are able to do things like build bases on other worlds are also the societies that have made major inroads on these Earth-side problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @08:59PM
no.
space is vaste. like YUGE! i mean huge!
it is terrible single-minded to try and do it alone. everything iN space made by humans (on earth with earth resources) should, no! MUST! interact and be interface-able by anything else human made it encounter in space (afterall it was made by a part of the planet and it has been launched .. out there).
the real challenge is to find THE PERFECT "system"(*) laid down by the universe for humans. the first to discover will rule the world .. albeit not by money but by idea : )
(*) we have centimeters, something else, and then soemthing else again and then maybe inches? we have red, blue, yellow, we have, x64, x32, arm, mips, etc etc ... surely also alot over other things that paid money to be close to the source of standard creation but we can only cost along for so loong on a WRONG standard until the obvious becomes ... welll UNIVERSAL for HUMANkind because ... we are humans (not chickens or dolphine tho we might like them to survive also?) but we are flexible but we still strive for rigid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @11:15AM
The Moon will become the new South China Sea. Bet on it.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @04:35PM
Yes, the treaties that end WW3 will give China the moon, just like the treaties that ended WW2 gave China all the islands of the South China Sea.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @05:10PM
No problem. The treaties that end WW III will be signed by microbes, if any survive.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @05:12PM
[citation needed]
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @06:10PM
The US! Finally another country can see for themselves the great lunar molting plains where the lizard men shed their skin. Eventually it turns to dust!! Man in the moon pleaaase, more like lizard men!
In b4 conspiracies were cool.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday February 26 2017, @08:50PM
amazing.
now i thought main-land-chinese where just capitalistic wolves in communist sheep disguise.
but no. they are acctually returning part of the blown-away-part of the original sphere ... to the sphere.
they really are about "let's make the whole thing whole again"?