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| − | [/news/china/index.html China] is sending a spaceship to the Moon later this month to collect the first samples of rock and dust to be returned to Earth in more than 40 years.<br>Chang'e-5 will have just a single lunar day to collect the material from a previously unexplored region of the near side of the Moon before returning to Earth.<br>The last time rock samples from the surface of the Moon were brought back to Earth was from the last Apollo mission that returned home in December 1972.<br>China is one of just three countries - including the USSR and the US - to have successfully made a soft landing on the surface of our nearest celestial neighbour.<br>The rocks will help scientists better date the last known volcanic activity on the surface of the Moon - thought to be anything from 1 billion to 3.5 billion years ago. <br>The spaceship will lift off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island on November 24 on a Long March 5 rocket and land in the north of the Oceanus Procellarum - a vast lava plain on the lunar surface.<br> Chang'e-5 will have just a single lunar day - 14 Earth days - to collect the material from a previously unexplored region of the near side of the Moon before returning <br> The spaceship will lift off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island on November 24 on a Long March 5 rocket and land in the north of the Oceanus Procellarum (dark region pictured) - a vast lava plain on the lunar surface<br>It was originally due to launch in 2017 but an engine failure in the launch rocket delayed the lift off - with it finally expected to happen this year.<br>The mission is designed to collect samples of dust and debris from a previously unexplored region of the near side of the Moon and return them to the Earth.<br>This will enable scientists to better study the formation of the Moon and better [http://www.savethestudent.org/?s=understand understand] its age and the rocks and minerals on the lunar surface. <br>It is described as a 'grab and go' mission, featuring a lander, ascender, orbiter and returner as part of the Chang'e-5 spacecraft.<br> In a complicated process the mission will see Chang'e-5 deploy a lander and ascender to the lunar surface, drill for rock samples, re-enter lunar orbit, rendezvous with a returner space ship that will come back to Earth and fall to the surface via a parachute with the rock samples<br> The craft will land close to Mons Rumker, a 1,300 mile high volcanic complex within the vast lava plain known as the Oceanus Procellarum<br>After the craft enters the lunar orbit the lander and ascender will split off and descend to the surface - close to Mons Rumker, a 1,300 mile high volcanic complex.<br>This is in the northern region of the Oceanus Procellarum - a vast and very dark lava plain that is visible from Earth with the naked eye.<br>After touchdown the lander will drill up to six and a half feet into the ground, extend a robotic arm and scoot up to 4lbs of material ready to come back to Earth. <br>It all has to be completed in a single lunar day - or about 14 Earth days to avoid any dangerous and damaging overnight temperatures that could harm equipment.<br> RELATED ARTICLES [# Previous] [# 1] [# Next] [/sciencetech/article-8909935/NASA-reestablishes-contact-43-year-old-Voyager-2-11-6-BILLION-miles-Earth.html NASA reestablishes contact with 43-year-old Voyager 2 which...] [/sciencetech/article-8909399/Astronomers-claim-Moons-long-lost-twin.html Astronomers find the Moon's 'long-lost twin': Large rock...] [/sciencetech/article-8909049/All-seven-planets-visible-night-sky-week.html Solar system puts on a show: All seven planets will be...] [/sciencetech/article-8906289/International-Space-Station-hails-two-decades-continuous-human-presence-low-Earth-orbit.html International Space Station marks two decades of humans...] <br><br><br><br>Share this article<br>Share<br>16 shares<br><br><br>According to Clive Neal, a geoscientists at the University of Notre Dame, speaking to Nature, 'anything could go wrong' including the lander toppling over, crash landings or samples escaping from the canister along the way.<br>Assuming the lander is able to hold on to the rock samples it enter the ascender, [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/du-lich-trung-quoc-gia-re/ kynghidongduong.vn] lift off into orbit then rendezvous with the returner vehicle which will bring them home.<br>If it all goes well then sometime in early December the samples will parachute back to Earth towards the Siziwang Banner in Inner Mongolia for collection. <br>The Chnag'e-5 trip is the latest in a series of increasingly complex missions launched by the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) to the lunar surface. <br>CNSA sent lunar orbiters in 2007 and 2010 named Chang'e-1 and 2 after the mythical Chinese Moon goddess - followed by Chang'e-3 in 2013 that landed a rover.<br> China is only the third country to have made a soft landing on the surface of the Moon after the US (purple and turquoise) and the USSR (red).<br><br>If the sample mission goes ahead it will be the first samples from the lunar surface returned to Earth in over 40 years<br>Last year Chang'e-4 became the first to touch down on the surface of the far side of the Moon, cementing China's place in the lunar exploration history books.<br>The country hopes to have humans on the surface of the Moon by 2030 - about six years after NASA hopes to send the first woman and next man as part of the Artemis mission - that could eventually see [http://www.community.covnews.com/archives/search/?searchthis=European%20astronauts European astronauts] land on the surface. <br>Bringing rock samples back from the surface is a whole new level of complexity for the space agency, with only the USSR and [https://www.kynghidongduong.vn/tours/du-lich-trung-quoc-gia-re/ tour trung quốc giá rẻ] US having previously done so.<br><div class="art-ins mol-factbox floatRHS sciencetech" data-version="2" id="mol-c024b4a0-2022-11eb-bbf6-6ba57437d4e7" website ROCKS will be scooped up from lunar surface by China this month
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