Artykuły o Chang’e-5 Moon sample return mission

[Orionid]

China launches Chang’e-5 Moon sample return mission
by Andrew Jones — November 23, 2020


Liftoff of the Chang'e-5 atop a Long March 5 rocket at Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. Credit: CNSA

HELSINKI — A Long March 5 rocket launched China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft Monday to kick off a 23-day mission to deliver the first lunar samples to Earth since the 1970s.

The heavy-lift Long March 5 lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 3:30 p.m. Eastern. The Chang’e-5 spacecraft was announced to have successfully entered its predetermined orbit around 4:45 p.m., following deployment of solar arrays. The 8.2-ton Chang’e-5 spacecraft is to begin an estimated 112-hour journey to the moon.

The mission aims to collect the youngest samples so far obtained from the moon and later land in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, around Dec. 15-16. Samples will then be transferred to specially developed facilities for handling, analyzing and storing the lunar material.

A successful mission would make China only the third country to deliver lunar samples to Earth, after the U.S. Apollo crewed program and Soviet robotic Luna missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

Major challenges following launch include carrying out liftoff of an ascent vehicle from atop the lander spacecraft on another planetary body, as well as a later automated lunar orbit and rendezvous around 380,000 kilometers from Earth.

Launch preparations at Wenchang have been ongoing since mid-September. The fourth and mostly recent Long March 5 mission rocket successfully launched the Tianwen-1 Mars spacecraft in July.

The Failure of the second Long March 5 launch in July 2017 meant a delay of three years for Chang’e-5, having been scheduled to launch later that year.

Mission timeline

A detailed timeline of the mission has not been released by China. The spacecraft is expected to be inserted into a roughly 200-kilometer altitude lunar orbit shortly after sunrise over the designated Mons Rümker on November 27.

The landing attempt is expected in the days following. Chinese language journals detailing the Chang’e project technology roadmap state that sampling activities will last around two Earth days. Around two kilograms of drilled and scooped samples will then be sent into lunar orbit by a roughly 500-kilogram ascent vehicle. A two-day period will conclude with rendezvous and docking between the ascent and service modules. The samples will be transferred to a reentry capsule attached the service module.

The service will then separate from the ascent vehicle and remain in lunar orbit until an opportune window to return to Earth. The reentry vehicle will separate from the service module around 5,000 kilometers from Earth. A skip reentry, involving bouncing off the atmosphere—a maneuver tested by the Chang’e-5 T1 mission in 2014—to deal with the high-velocity return from the moon will follow. ESA tracking stations will support this critical phase as the spacecraft attempts reentry.

Samples will then be transferred to specially constructed facilities for handling, analyzing and storing the lunar material.

Science goals

The stated landing area surrounds Mons Rümker, a volcanic peak situated in the Oceanus Procellarum region of western edge of the near side of the moon. The area may contain geological units of basaltic rock as young as around 1.21 billion years old. By comparison samples brought to Earth by Apollo astronauts are aged between 3.1 and 4.4 billion years old.

It is hoped that such geologically young samples, if returned, will allow radiometric dating of the samples to verify the age of the area. It could also then provide valuable information about the apparent late-stage volcanism needed to create the relatively new units of rock. The combination of orbital observations of cratering and accurate dating of samples would both help constrain chronologies on the moon and be applied as a reference for terrestrial bodies across the solar system.

The Chang’e-5 lander also carries a panoramic camera, lunar penetrating radar and imaging spectrometer for observation and analysis of the landing area.


The selected landing area for the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return. Credit: Phil Stooke

Backup mission, future goals

Chang’e-6 is a sample return spacecraft engineered at the same time as Chang’e-5 to provide a backup in the event of failure. Success of Chang’e-5 would however see Chang’e-6 repurposed for a landing at the lunar south pole around 2023.

China has stated it will then proceed into an extended phase of lunar exploration involving Chang’e-7 and further lunar landing missions. The aim will be to establish an ‘international lunar research station’ in the mid-to-late 2020s as a precursor to crewed landings.

Sample return technology and experience developed through Chang’e-5 is also to be utilized for planned near Earth asteroid and Mars sample return missions later in the decade. The complexity of the Chang’e-5 mission profile is considered by observers to be related to future crewed lunar landing ambitions.

Source: https://spacenews.com/china-launches-change-5-moon-sample-return-mission/

[Orionid]

China launches ambitious mission to return lunar material to Earth
November 23, 2020 Stephen Clark


A Long March 5 rocket lifts off from the Wenchang launch center Monday. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

A heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket hurled a 9-ton Chinese spacecraft toward the moon Monday on a 23-day mission attempting to return lunar samples to Earth for the first time in 44 years.

The nearly 20-story rocket fired off its launch pad at the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island in southern China at 3:30 p.m. EST (2030 GMT) Monday with 2.4 million pounds of thrust from 10 liquid-fueled engines.

The Long March 5 rocket is the most powerful launcher in China’s inventory. The launch of the Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission was delayed by earlier problems with the Long March 5, including a launch failure in 2017 that grounded Long March 5 flights for more than two years.

(...)
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/11/23/china-launches-ambitious-mission-to-return-lunar-material-to-earth/

[Orionid]

Factbox: China's moon missions
Source: Xinhua| 2020-11-23 19:34:35|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 probe late this month, in hopes of conducting unmanned lunar sample collection and returning to Earth.

China's lunar exploration program is named after the legendary Chang'e, the "Moon Lady," who took a potion and floated into the sky, eventually landing on the moon, where she became a goddess accompanied by a jade rabbit.

The Chang'e lunar exploration program that began in 2004 includes orbiting and landing on the moon and bringing samples back to Earth. Here is a brief overview of China's journeys to the moon.

CHANG'E-1

China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, was launched on Oct. 24, 2007, making China the fifth country to develop and launch a lunar probe on its own.

Orbiting 200 km above the moon, it mapped 3D images of the lunar surface, analyzed the distribution of elements, measured the depth of lunar soil, and explored the environment between Earth and the moon. Chinese scientists acquired the first complete map of the moon's surface, thanks to Chang'e-1.

CHANG'E-2

Chang'e-2, which blasted off on Oct. 1, 2010, gained a full lunar map with a spatial resolution of 7 meters, showing more details of the lunar surface than Chang'e-1, which had a resolution of 120 meters.

It also took pictures of the Sinus Iridum, or the Bay of Rainbows, the proposed landing site of Chang'e-3.

After accomplishing its tasks, Chang'e-2 flew to the L2 point of the Sun-Earth system, where gravity from the sun and Earth balances the orbital motion of a satellite, to conduct scientific experiments.

It was then tasked to fly by the Toutatis asteroid, about 7 million km from Earth. Chang'e-2 came within 3.2 km of Toutatis and captured images with a spatial resolution of 10 meters at a relative velocity of 10.73 km per second.

CHANG'E-3

Chang'e-3 was launched on Dec. 2, 2013, and softly touched down on the Sinus Iridum 12 days later. It was the first Chinese spacecraft to soft-land on and explore an extraterrestrial object.

The success made China the third country, after the former Soviet Union and the United States, to soft-land on the moon.

Chang'e-3 included a lander and a moon rover called Yutu (Jade Rabbit), which took photos of each other while the rover circled the lander.

The probe acquired a geological profile of the moon, detected the geological structure from the lunar surface to 330 meters beneath, and discovered a new kind of lunar rock. The findings could give scientists new insights into the evolution of the moon.

TEST CRAFT FOR CHANG'E-5

China launched an experimental spacecraft on Oct. 24, 2014, to test technologies to be used on Chang'e-5.

Comprising a re-entry capsule and a service module, it flew halfway around the moon. After the re-entry and service capsules separated, the re-entry capsule approached Earth's atmosphere at about 11.2 km per second.

The return capsule touched down at the designated landing area in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, on Nov. 1, 2014.

The service module flew back to orbit the moon for further tests and reached the L2 point of the Earth-Moon system to conduct experiments.

QUEQIAO RELAY SATELLITE

China launched a relay satellite named Queqiao (Magpie Bridge) on May 21, 2018, to set up a communication link between Earth and the moon's far side.

The satellite has entered a halo orbit around the L2 point of the Earth-Moon system, about 455,000 km from Earth, where it can "see" both Earth and the far side of the moon. It is the world's first communication satellite operating in that orbit.

CHANG'E-4

The Chang'e-4 probe, launched on Dec. 8, 2018, made the first-ever soft landing on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, 2019.

Chang'e-4, including a lander and a moon rover called Yutu-2, or Jade Rabbit-2, conducted low-frequency radio astronomical observation, terrain and landform survey, mineral composition and shallow lunar surface structure detection, and neutron radiation and neutral atom measurement.

The rover Yutu-2 has far exceeded its three-month design lifespan, becoming the longest-working lunar rover on the moon.

Based on data from China's Chang'e-4 probe, Chinese scientists have determined the thickness of the regolith and revealed the fine subsurface structures and evolutionary history of the probe's landing site on the moon's far side. Enditem

Source:  http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-11/23/c_139537745.htm

[Orionid]

China launches 1st lunar sample return mission, aims for multiple breakthroughs in aerospace history
By Deng Xiaoci and Fan Anqi Source: Global Times Published: 2020/11/24 5:07:19


Infographic: GT

The Long March-5 Y5, China's state-of-the-art carrier rocket and strongest member of the Long March launch vehicle family, blasted off early Tuesday morning from the Wenchang Space Launch Center located in South China's Hainan Province, successfully sending the Chang'e-5 lunar probe into planned orbit.

(...)
Source: https://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1207822.shtml

[Orionid]

PolyU develops space instruments for the Nation’s first lunar sample return mission
24 Nov 2020


The PolyU-developed  Surface Sampling and Packing System includes two samplers  for collecting samples of lunar regolith in loose and sticky form. The device in Photo 1 is for  collecting sticky lunar sample.


The PolyU-developed  Surface Sampling and Packing System includes two samplers  for collecting samples of lunar regolith in loose and sticky form. The device in 2 is for collecting loose lunar samples.


The packaking and sealing system designed and made by PolyU researches is for sealing the samples in a container.

Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) have developed and manufactured the “Surface Sampling and Packing System”, specifically designed for Chang’e 5, the Nation’s first lunar sample return mission. Following the successful launch of Chang’e 5 by the Long March 5 rocket today (24 November), the Surface Sampling and Packing System is scheduled to commence lunar sampling in early December.

Joining this historic mission is the team led by Professor YUNG Kai-leung, Sir Sze-yuen Chung Professor in Precision Engineering, Chair Professor of Precision Engineering and Associate Head of Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, PolyU. Dr Robert W.M. TAM, Interim Director of PolyU’s Industrial Centre, is one of the team’s key members.

(...) Source: https://www.polyu.edu.hk/media/media-releases/2020/1124_polyu-develops-space-instruments-for-the-nations-first-lunar-sample-return-mission/

[Orionid]

Lunar orbiter prepares for rendezvous
By ZHAO LEI | China Daily | Updated: 2020-12-05 07:43


Space workers monitor the status of Chang'e 5 at a control center in Beijing on Tuesday. [Photo/Xinhua]

Docking mission will be automated, with two components using sensors

The next major maneuver for China's Chang'e 5 robotic mission will be an orbital rendezvous and docking between the probe's ascender and reentry capsule, which will be quite challenging, according to project insiders.

Peng Jing, Chang'e 5's deputy chief designer at the China Academy of Space Technology, said the upcoming operation will be the first automated rendezvous and docking for any spacecraft in a lunar orbit.

"The last time two components of a spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with each other in lunar orbit took place in 1972 during the Apollo mission, and that was monitored and controlled by astronauts. This time it will be totally automated," he said. "In addition, there will be delivery of lunar samples from the ascender to the re-entry module, so this process must be executed very accurately and delicately."

Previous rendezvous and docking by Chinese spacecraft occurred in low-Earth orbit hundreds of kilometers above Earth with assistance from navigation satellites, but this time it will take place in lunar orbit nearly 380,000 km away without any external guidance, the designer said, adding that the gravitational environment faced by the spacecraft will be very different from that in low-Earth orbit.

Furthermore, the orbiter-reentry capsule combination is much heavier than the ascender, and if one of them flies too fast or too slow, they will likely collide, so the speed control must be reliable, Peng said.

Wang Qiong, a planner at the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, said that after its liftoff from the moon, the ascender will need four orbital corrections guided by ground controllers to meet with the orbiter-reentry capsule.

In the rendezvous and docking phase, the two components will rely on their sensors to obtain parameters such as speed and position to determine their maneuvers.

Zha Xuelei, another deputy chief designer of Chang'e 5 at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, said the rendezvous and docking will have only 21 seconds to complete so each move in this operation must proceed strictly on schedule.

Chang'e 5, China's largest and most sophisticated lunar probe, was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket early on Nov 24 at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, setting out on the world's first mission since 1976 to bring lunar samples back to Earth.

The spacecraft has four main components－an orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry capsule.

The spacecraft separated into two parts－the orbiter-reentry capsule combination and the lander-ascender combination－while in lunar orbit early Monday morning.

Late on Tuesday, the lander-ascender combination landed on the moon and soon began to use a drill to obtain underground samples from 2 meters beneath the surface.

It finished the underground operation around 5 am on Wednesday. The craft then used a mechanical arm to gather surface dirt. Samples were packed into a vacuum container inside the ascender.

All collection and packing processes finished at 10 pm on Wednesday, much sooner than expected.

The ascender carrying the samples activated an engine on Thursday to lift itself into an elliptical lunar orbit to prepare for rendezvous and docking with the reentry capsule, marking the first time a Chinese spacecraft has blasted off from an extraterrestrial body. Next, it will transfer the lunar samples to the re-entry module and then separate from the combination.

The orbiter-reentry capsule combination will later return to Earth orbit, where the pair will break up, and the re-entry capsule will conduct a series of complicated maneuvers to return to a preset landing site in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region in mid-December.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/05/WS5fcac9a8a31024ad0ba99e9b.html

[Orionid]

Technologies behind China’s Chang’e-5’s successful landing on moon
By Feng Hua, Yu Jianbin (People's Daily)    09:39, December 06, 2020


China launches Chang’e-5 probe via the Long March-5 Y5 rocket at Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province at 4:30, Nov. 24. (Photo by Qiu Xinsheng/People’s Daily Online)

China’s Chang’e-5 probe landed at the preselected landing area on the moon at 23:11, Dec. 1, after it entered the lunar orbit for a week.

At 22:00 on Dec. 2, after the probe worked for about 19 hours on the moon, the spacecraft completed automatic sampling on the moon and sealed the samples in a container insider its ascender as planned.

The landing process of Chang’e-5 is different from that of its two predecessors, Chang’e-3 and Chang’e-4 in certain aspects.

During its landing process, the probe reduced its flying speed, adjusted its position quickly, continued approaching the lunar surface, hovered while avoiding obstacles and descended at a slower speed before a final fall on the moon.

(...)
Source: http://en.people.cn/n3/2020/1206/c90000-9796135.html

[Orionid]

Lunar samples a rich source of information
2020-12-07 08:18:54 China Daily


Photo taken at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing on Dec 1, 2020 shows the Chang'e 5 spacecraft landing on the moon. (Photo/Xinhua)

Scientific study of the lunar samples to be brought back by the Chang'e 5 mission will help to improve mankind's knowledge about Earth's celestial companion, especially its history and resources, Chinese researchers said.

Guo Hongfeng, a researcher at the National Astronomical Observatories under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the biggest scientific value in the Chang'e 5 mission lies in the lunar rocks and soil to be brought back by the robotic probe.

(...)
Source: http://www.ecns.cn/news/2020-12-07/detail-ihaepfcy4395816.shtml

[Orionid]

China Focus: Chang'e-5 bringing crops from space
Source: Xinhua| 2020-12-16 18:44:50|Editor: huaxia

BEIJING, Dec. 16 (Xinhua) -- As the Chang'e-5 probe brings moon samples back to Earth, Chinese scientists are expecting another package from the space trip: a variety of plant seeds that may bring bigger harvests.

According to the Space Breeding Innovation Alliance, its space breeding program was part of the payload.

Seeds, including rice, orchids, alfalfa and oats, embarked on the round trip to the moon on Nov. 24 when the probe was launched.

Space breeding in China began in the 1980s. After being exposed to cosmic radiation and zero gravity, some seeds can mutate and produce higher yields and improved quality when planted back on Earth, scientists say.

In 1987, the first batch of seeds entered orbit via recoverable remote sensing satellites and returned to Earth five days later.

By 1996, seeds of 51 crop plants and more than 300 varieties had been launched into space. In 2006, a satellite named Shijian-8 successfully returned to Earth carrying 215 kg of seeds of vegetables, fruits, grains and cotton, the largest payload of its kind since 1987.

Many crops developed with space-bred seeds have been planted in China.

With the rapid development of China's space program, researchers from Lanzhou Institute of Husbandry and Pharmaceutical Sciences have been looking for quality forage seeds with new space technologies, hoping to lessen China's dependence on imports.

Since 2009, the institute has sent 38 batches of seeds from nine forage types into space in seven trips, including three Shenzhou series spacecraft, the Tiangong-1 space lab, recoverable satellite Shijian-10, and the new-generation manned spaceship and Chang'e-5 probe.

The institute has cultivated Zhongtian No. 1 Alfalfa, which is grown widely in north China.

Researchers say it is not possible to predict whether seeds sent into space will eventually mutate or how they will mutate. The answer is only revealed when they return to Earth for planting and further breeding.

The Chang'e-5 probe completed its second orbital correction on the moon-Earth transfer orbit early Wednesday, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The CNSA said all systems on the orbiter-returner combination that carries the samples are in good condition.

At the right time, the orbiter and returner will separate from each another. The returner is expected to land in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Source: http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/16/c_139594458.htm

[Orionid]

China recovers Chang’e-5 moon samples after complex 23-day mission
by Andrew Jones — December 16, 2020 [SN]


The Chang'e-5 reentry capsule in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

Chang’e-5 promises new lunar science as well as more ambitious future missions

HELSINKI — China has recovered precious lunar samples after a successful reentry and landing of the Chang’e-5 return capsule.

The roughly 300-kilogram Chang’e-5 return capsule performed a ballistic skip reentry at 12:33 p.m. Eastern Dec. 16, effectively bouncing off the atmosphere over the Arabian Sea before reentry.

The capsule containing around 2 kilograms of drilled and scooped lunar material landed in the grasslands of Siziwang Banner at 12:59 p.m. Recovery vehicles located the capsule shortly after.

The recovery ends the space segment of the 23-day Chang’e-5 mission which aimed to collect rock samples thought to be billions of years younger than so far delivered by the U.S. Apollo and Soviet Luna missions.

While the samples will be delivered to a specially constructed laboratory in Beijing for preparation, analysis and storage, Chang’e-5 opens doors for further exploration.

The verification of technologies for liftoff from the lunar surface and automated rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit open the way for planned sample-return missions to near Earth asteroids and Mars in the coming decade, as well as crewed lunar landings in the 2030s.

Chang’e-6, a backup mission, will now be repurposed for a landing at the lunar South Pole or South Pole-Aitken Basin. The mission will involve contributions from CNES of France.

The Chang’e-5 orbiter performed a burn following separation of the return capsule to avoid reentering the atmosphere. The orbiter could now be used for an extended mission, utilizing imagers on the spacecraft.

Lunar science pay dirt

Chang’e-5 landed near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum Dec.1 and collected 0.5 kilograms of samples by drilling up to two meters into the lunar regolith as well as scooping material from the surface. Crater counting from orbital observations indicates the area sampled could be young in geological terms.

Verification of the age of the samples would confirm ideas that some areas of the moon experienced late-stage volcanism, and compositional analysis could provide insights into the reasons behind it.

Katherine Joy, a Reader in Earth Sciences at the University of Manchester says the samples might represent some of the last lunar lava flows to have erupted. “If so, they not only tell us about how the Moon’s thermal history but these are also vital samples to help us calibrate the Moon’s impact history.”

Joy states that calibrating this young part of the Moon’s impact record would have “important implications for understanding the surface ages of all other bodies in the Solar System.” 

Jessica Flahaut, a planetary geologist at the University of Lorraine, France, says the mission is”so great for the science community, who has been waiting to get more samples from decades—the last sample return being Luna 24 in 1976—that the Moon is getting more attention again.”

Flahaut notes that the the drilled samples, consisting of 0.5 kilograms of the material will provide further windows on en we will have a record of paleo-regolith layers in the drill core samples, and we could use those to survey the record of the solar winds and galactic events over millions of years.”

“Remote sensing data from the last decades have also shown a number of curiosities, including felsic domes, irregular mare patches, and rock types at the lunar surface, which we don’t have in the sample collection yet. It is therefore key to insist that lunar exploration is still only at its beginning, and that there is much more to do.”

New phase of lunar and planetary exploration

Chang’e-5 launched Nov. 23, entering lunar orbit 112 hours later. Sampling followed in the hours after a Dec. 1 landing, with an ascent vehicle delivering the collected material into lunar orbit.

An unprecedented automated lunar orbit rendezvous and docking with the mission service module two days later allowed the transfer of the 2 kilograms of material into the return capsule.

The mission was China’s most complex so far in terms of robotic space exploration. Initially envisioned as the third of three steps to orbit, land on and sample the moon, Chang’e-5 and the previous successful Chang’e missions give way to an expanded lunar exploration program.

The extended phase of lunar exploration involves the Chang’e-7 and 8 lunar landing missions in the coming years. The aim will be to establish an ‘international lunar research station’ in the mid-to-late 2020s as a precursor to crewed landings.

Sample return technology and experience developed through Chang’e-5 is also to be utilized for planned near Earth asteroid and Mars sample return missions later in the decade. The complexity of the Chang’e-5 mission profile is considered by observers to be related to future crewed lunar landing ambitions.


Helicopter footage of recovery of the Chang’e-5 reentry capsule. Credit: CCTV/framegrab

Source: https://spacenews.com/china-recovers-change-5-moon-samples-after-complex-23-day-mission/

[Orionid]

Chinese sample return capsule lands on Earth after round-trip flight to moon
December 16, 2020 Stephen Clark [SFN]


The Chang’e 5 sample return capsule landed in China’s Inner Mongolia region Wednesday. Credit: CNSA

A capsule containing moon rocks landed in a remote, snow-covered corner of China Wednesday, bringing home the first samples from the lunar surface in 44 years and completing the Chinese space program’s most challenging robotic mission to date.

(...)
Source: https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/12/16/chinese-sample-return-capsule-lands-on-earth-after-round-trip-flight-to-moon/

[Orionid]

Rice seeds carried to the moon and back sprout
chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2020-12-29 16:31

Some of the 40 grams of rice seeds that made a round trip to the moon have sprouted and are ready for follow-up studies, according to Science Daily on Monday.

The rice seeds traveled to the moon and returned to Earth after 23 days of flight aboard China's Chang'e 5 lunar probe. This marks the first time China conducted a deep space induced mutation breeding experiment on rice.

The seeds were handed over to their provider, the National Engineering Research Center of Plant Space Breeding of South China Agricultural University, on Dec 23.

China was the first country to use space technology to induce mutation breeding of crops. "Mutations are the basis of species evolution, as well as the basis of breeding of new variety," said Guo Tao, deputy director of the space breeding center.

Rice is a model organism in genetic research. Using rice as a deep space payload to study the evolution of species helps to understand hereditary effects in deep space. It may also produce beneficial mutations that could be applied to rice seed selection and breeding and boost agricultural production, Guo added.

Guo said next they will conduct a series of selfing and outcrossing experiments on the seed to cultivate new rice varieties that satisfy future requirements in terms of resistance to diseases and pests, stress tolerance and adaptation to mechanized production.

To ensure national food security, China's total yield of rice needs to grow about 10 percent by 2030.

As a leading scientific research and innovation platform in space breeding, the National Engineering Research Center of Plant Space Breeding has conducted 24 space-induced mutation experiments on plants since 1996.

The experiment on the Chang'e 5 probe is different from previous ones. It was the first such experiment conducted in a deep space environment, the space flight time was longer and the probe encountered radiation in the Van Allen Belts and fromsunspot activity, said Guo.

Stronger hereditary effects are expected to be produced in this experiment, as a deep space environment is more similar to a real space extreme environment. It will help researchers learn how hereditary effects induced in deep space and a low-Earth orbit environment differ, and provide important experiment samples and data for further research on mutation rules in space breeding, he said.

Source: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202012/29/WS5feae968a31024ad0ba9f5cd.html

[Orionid]

China’s Chang’e-5 orbiter is heading back to the moon
by Andrew Jones — September 6, 2021 [SN]


The Earth and moon viewed by Chang'e 5 from Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 in April 2021. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

China's moon-sampling mission spacecraft is continuing its extended mission with its destination currently unknown.

HELSINKI — The Chang’e-5 orbiter module which facilitated China’s complex lunar sample return last year is on its way to the moon following deep space tests.

Source: https://spacenews.com/chinas-change-5-orbiter-is-heading-back-to-the-moon/

[Orionid]

A Chinese spacecraft is testing out a new orbit around the moon
by Andrew Jones — February 15, 2022 [SN]


The Earth and moon viewed by Chang'e 5 from Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 in April 2021, before returning to the Earth-moon system. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

HELSINKI — A spacecraft involved in China’s 2020 Chang’e-5 lunar sample-return mission is now in a unique orbit around the Moon, more than a year after completing its primary mission.

The service module, which played a large part in delivering 1.731 kilograms of fresh lunar samples to Earth in December 2020, is now in a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) of the moon, according to amateur satellite trackers.

Source: https://spacenews.com/a-chinese-spacecraft-is-testing-out-a-new-orbit-around-the-moon/