China's Space Program News Thread
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Hendrik_2000
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The eagle has landed congrat
China’s Chang’e-5 lunar lander successfully lands on the Moon
/ 9:47 AM CST•December 1, 2020
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Image Credits: Jin Liwang/Xinhua / Getty Images
Chinese state news agencies are reporting a successful landing of the Chang’e-5 lunar robotic lander, which will seek to return lunar rock samples back to Earth. The launch took off on November 23, and attained lunar orbit on November 28. It launched the lander vehicle on November 30, and the reports today from the China National Administration (CNSA) says that at shortly after 10 AM EST it achieved its goal of touching down on the Moon’s surface intact.
China’s Chang’e-5 mission will be the third ever to bring back soil or rock samples from the Moon – only the U.S. and the former Soviet Union have accomplished that so far. The mission landed on the side of the Moon closest to the Earth (which is always the same side, since the Moon is locked in its orientation during its orbit around our planet).
This landing starts a clock that has a pretty fixed duration in terms of the next steps for the mission – the lander doesn’t actually have a heater unit on board, so it can’t withstand the lunar night. That means it will have to collect the samples it hopes to return within a period spanning the next 14 Earth days, with a potential landing planned for around December 16 or 17 (which means, coincidentally, that if everything goes to plan, China will have its Moon rocks back to study just in time for our debut ).
China’s Chang’e-5 lunar lander successfully lands on the Moon
/ 9:47 AM CST•December 1, 2020
Comment
Image Credits: Jin Liwang/Xinhua / Getty Images
Chinese state news agencies are reporting a successful landing of the Chang’e-5 lunar robotic lander, which will seek to return lunar rock samples back to Earth. The launch took off on November 23, and attained lunar orbit on November 28. It launched the lander vehicle on November 30, and the reports today from the China National Administration (CNSA) says that at shortly after 10 AM EST it achieved its goal of touching down on the Moon’s surface intact.
China’s Chang’e-5 mission will be the third ever to bring back soil or rock samples from the Moon – only the U.S. and the former Soviet Union have accomplished that so far. The mission landed on the side of the Moon closest to the Earth (which is always the same side, since the Moon is locked in its orientation during its orbit around our planet).
This landing starts a clock that has a pretty fixed duration in terms of the next steps for the mission – the lander doesn’t actually have a heater unit on board, so it can’t withstand the lunar night. That means it will have to collect the samples it hopes to return within a period spanning the next 14 Earth days, with a potential landing planned for around December 16 or 17 (which means, coincidentally, that if everything goes to plan, China will have its Moon rocks back to study just in time for our debut ).
The crew carrier is committed. However 921 is not the only design in consideration although it is probably the most advanced in implementation and testing, so it is the front runner. There is another competing design by Shanghai based 8th academy, they have made their 4.X meter fuselage or tank recently. So I'd say crew carrier is 100% committed, 921 is 90% done deal.
I will have to repeat that CNSA is not shifting the duty of crewed launches from CZ-9 to a less ambitious design. CZ-9 was never intended for that duty in its first step (first 5 launches) if ever. The possible crew version of CZ-9 is without 4 boosters, this version is planned to be after the full sized CZ-9 after it has proved itself to be reliable and after crew specific modification. This means years after 2030.
The "mid-2020 man on the moon mission" is really about competing with US, it is certainly preferred by some in the CNSA and most of the fans outside of the circle. But I highly doubt if that is the wish of the political leadership. I am confident in the belief that the mentality of Chinese leadership is that "we do what we see fitting our long term interest, we do not let our emotion or foreign provocation to distract our path, we are competing for the materialistic goal, not a flag-planting fanfare".
It looks almost fake.
- The text on the top is in Traditional Chinese. Mainland China use simplified Chinese.
- There is no time stamp and other data overlaid to the video as in all technical monitoring video.
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When are they gonna break out the shovel?
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