China launches ambitious mission to land on moon and return samples to Earth - CBS News

China launched its most ambitious moon mission yet Monday: a robotic spacecraft expected to land on the lunar surface by the end of the week.

The spacecraft is expected to collect about 4 pounds of rock and soil samples, and return them to Earth next month for laboratory analysis.

If successful, the Chang'e 5 mission will make China only the third nation, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to bring moon rocks back to Earth.

The 8,335-pound Chang'e 5 spacecraft, named after the mythical Chinese goddess of the moon, is made up of four major components: a lunar orbiter, a sample return craft, a lander carrying science instruments and sample collection equipment, and a small ascent vehicle mounted atop the lander to carry the collected surface samples back up to orbit.

"We haven't been returning samples for 44 years, and we have many scientific questions which the Chang'e 5 mission is going to help us answer." .

The Chang'e 5 lander features multiple cameras, a spectrometer to assess the composition of the soil near the spacecraft and a ground-penetrating radar.

Working by remote control from Earth, engineers will use the arm to move collected samples up to the ascent vehicle, which then will blast off, rendezvous with the Chang'e 5 orbiter and transfer the sample to the return craft for the trip back to Earth.

China's lunar exploration program began with the Chang'e 1 and 2 missions, which successfully reached lunar orbit in 2007 and 2010 respectively.

Those flights were followed by the Chang'e 3 lunar lander in 2013 and by Chang'e 4, which landed on the far side of the moon in 2019.

Two sample return missions are planned before possible missions to land Chinese astronauts on the surface in the 2030s.