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Stephen Chen

The ascender of China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft took off from the surface of the moon on Thursday night, Beijing time, carrying a canister loaded with lunar dust and rocks.
State news agency Xinhua reported just before midnight that the ascender had successfully lifted off.
“This represented the first-ever Chinese spacecraft to take off from an extraterrestrial body,” Xinhua said.
The lunar dust and rocks will be transferred to a return capsule that is expected to land in the snow-covered grasslands of Inner Mongolia in northern China in less than two weeks. If it does, it will be the first time lunar samples will be brought back to Earth since the US and Soviet missions in the 1960s and ’70s.


The spacecraft had been busy since it landed near the peak of Mons Rümker, a mountain in the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) region of the moon, after 11pm Beijing time on Tuesday.
Its lander scooped about 1.5kg (3.3 pounds) of rock and dirt from the surface using a robotic arm and drilled down about 2 metres (6.6 feet) for 500 grams (1.1 pounds) of underground samples. All of it had to be done before its solar battery ran out of power.
For the spacecraft’s deputy chief designer, Hong Xin, and his team at the Shanghai Institute of Space Propulsion, it will be a nervous wait as the Chang’e 5 makes its way back to Earth.
Hong Kong's Chang'e-3 hero tells young people to reach for the stars
Their biggest worry was the lift-off from the moon – rocket engines on the ascender had to withstand searing daytime heat and other environmental challenges, according to China Space News. There was also a chance parts could have come loose when the Chang’e 5 touched down, and that lunar dust could interfere with components or sensors.
To reduce that risk, Hong’s team built the rocket engines with the precision of watchmakers so they could handle any expansion or contraction caused by temperature variations while preventing dust or debris from getting in, the newspaper said.

The mission is being carefully monitored by a network of satellite stations watching the ascender to correct any deviation in its course as it makes its way up from the moon, to make sure it docks at a platform in lunar orbit. From there, the canister will be transferred to the return capsule.
There are 10 ground stations in China, two electronic surveillance ships in the Pacific Ocean and two overseas ground stations run by China in Argentina and Namibia.
But even with so many stations tracking the spacecraft, the live-stream images from its on-board cameras cut out during the last leg of its descent to the moon on Tuesday.


Chinese state media reported that the interruption was caused by the limited bandwidth of communication, citing unnamed space experts. They said the spacecraft’s sensors had been working and sending data back to Earth, taking communication capacity to its limit. Data such as flight status and radar feeds took priority over images.
The satellite communication network also has a gap in the southern Pacific Ocean as Australia is not providing data for the mission, according to a map on display in China’s flight control room.
The bold ambitions behind China’s Chang’e 5 moon mission
The mission comes amid heightened tensions between the two countries, and Reuters reported in September that China would lose access to a strategic space tracking station in Australia after its contract expires, though it is unclear when the lease runs out.
But Europe had offered help, with three ground stations run by the European Space Agency in western Europe, northwest Africa and Central America to provide backup should any of the China-run stations lose contact, according to the Chinese space authorities.
China will also activate a mobile tracking station in Karachi, Pakistan to maintain communication during the last leg of the journey.


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Chang’e-5

China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with moon rocks

The Chang’e-5 probe collects lunar samples on Wednesday. Photo: China National Space Administration via Xinhua

(201201) -- BEIJING, Dec. 1, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, capital of China, Dec. 1, 2020. China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft successfully landed on the near side of the moon late Tuesday and sent back images, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced. At 11:11 p.m., the spacecraft landed at the preselected landing area near 51.8 degrees west longitude and 43.1 degrees north latitude, said the CNSA. During the landing process, the cameras aboard the lander took images of the landing area, said the CNSA. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

Chang’e 5 mission: China’s moon probe seals lunar rocks and soil in airtight capsules for return to Earth

An image taken on December 2, 2020, by the China National Space Administration shows the Chang'e 5 lunar probe gathering samples on the moon. Photo: CNSA via CNS/AFP

This picture taken on December 1, 2020 and released on December 2, 2020 by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) via CNS shows an image of the moon surface taken by the panoramic camera aboard the lander-ascender combination of the Chang'e-5 spacecraft after landing on the moon. - An unmanned Chinese spacecraft landed on the Moon on December 1, state media reported, the latest milestone in a mission to collect samples from the lunar surface. (Photo by - / China National Space Administration (CNSA) via CNS / AFP) / China OUT

China’s Chang’e 5 enters crucial 48 hours of its mission after moon landing

Video animation at Beijing Aerospace Control Centre shows Chang’e 5 landing on the moon late on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

China's Chang'e 5 moon lander and ascent vehicle separates from its orbiter/return vehicle early on Nov. 30, 2020 Beijing Time ahead of a landing in the moon's Ocean of Storms for a lunar sample-return mission. 30NOV20 Photo: CCTV

China’s moon mission makes a lunar touchdown, ready for Chang’e 5 to collect rocks and soil

China’s Chang’e 5 moon lander and ascent vehicle separate from the orbiter/return vehicle early on Monday ahead of a landing in the moon’s Ocean of Storms for a lunar sample mission. Photo: CCTV

How China’s Chang’e 5 could take giant leap for world’s space missions

A rocket carrying the Chang’e 5 spacecraft blasts off from southern China’s Hainan province on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

(201124) -- WENCHANG, Nov. 24, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Technicians celebrate the successful launch of the Chang'e-5 spacecraft at the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in south China's Hainan Province, Nov. 24, 2020. China on Tuesday launched a spacecraft to collect and return samples from the moon, the country's first attempt to retrieve samples from an extraterrestrial body. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)

PolyU develops space instruments for the Nationâs first lunar sample return mission. Photo: Hong Kong Polytechnic University; with illustration from Xinhua showing how the samplers are attached to the lunar probe's robotic arm.

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The probe is expected to land in Inner Mongolia in less than two weeks
It has collected 2kg of samples from the lunar surface and underground



The probe is expected to land in Inner Mongolia in less than two weeks, with 2kg of samples from the lunar surface and underground.


China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft is on its way back to Earth with moon rocks

The probe is expected to land in Inner Mongolia in less than two weeks It has collected 2kg of samples from the lunar surface and underground

The probe is expected to land in Inner Mongolia in less than two weeks

It has collected 2kg of samples from the lunar surface and underground