China’s National Space Administration

Tag: China’s National Space Administration

China’s Chang’e 5 Successfully Lands in Mongolia with Moon Rocks

December 29, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article from Agence France-Presse December 17, 2020 (firstpost.com)

• The unmanned Chinese spacecraft, Chang’e-5, returned and parachuted safely to Earth on December 16th completing the first mission in four decades by any country to collect lunar samples. Scientists hope the samples will give insights into the Moon’s origins and volcanic activity. But the trip was also another high-profile chapter in China’s bid to become a space superpower. In images broadcast on state television, a Chinese flag was flown at the snow-covered grasslands of remote northern Mongolia where the capsule landed.

• The probe’s return “demonstrates the complete accomplishment of China’s first mission to collect samples from an extraterrestrial body,” China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said. China is only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s. While there on the Moon, it planted the Chinese flag.

• When the Chang’e 5 probe left the Moon, it marked the first time that China had achieved take-off from an extraterrestrial body (pictured above). It then linked up with the orbiting part of the spacecraft that brought the samples back to Earth. The Chang’e-5 collected 4.5 pounds of material in a vast, previously unexplored lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum. The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the Moon samples will be delivered to a research team for analysis and study.

• China has spent billions of dollars on its military-run space program in an effort to catch up with the United States and Russia. China launched its first satellite in 1970. The country’s first human spaceflight was achieved in 2003. The Chinese landed a lunar rover on the far side of the Moon in January 2019.

• Thomas Zurbuchen, a top official at NASA’s science mission directorate, tweeted “The international science community celebrates your successful Chang’e 5 mission. These samples will help reveal secrets of our Earth-Moon system (and) gain new insights about the history of our solar system.” China will make some of the samples available to scientists in other countries.

• China’s future space goals include creating a powerful rocket capable of delivering payloads heavier than those NASA and private rocket firm SpaceX can handle, a lunar base, a permanently crewed space station, and a Mars rover.

**Chang’e 5 return module on the ground in Mongolia**

An unmanned Chinese spacecraft carrying rocks and soil from the Moon returned safely to Earth early

**Staff members examine the return module**

Thursday, completing the first mission in four decades to collect lunar samples. While scientists hope the samples will give insights into the Moon’s origins and volcanic activity on its surface, the trip was also another high-profile chapter in China’s bid to become a space superpower. In images broadcast on state television, a Chinese flag was flown at the snow-covered grasslands where the capsule landed in the country’s remote north.

The probe’s return “demonstrates the complete accomplishment of China’s first mission to collect samples from an extraterrestrial body,” China’s National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

China is now only the third country to have retrieved samples from the Moon, following the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1960s and 1970s.

Chang’e-5, named after a mythical Chinese Moon goddess, landed on the Moon on 1 December.

While there, it raised the Chinese flag, the country’s space agency said.

When the probe left the Moon two days later, that marked the first time that China had achieved take-off from an extraterrestrial body, it said.
The module then went through the delicate operation of linking up in lunar orbit with the part of the spacecraft that brought the samples back to Earth.

The Chang’e-5 mission was to collect two kilograms (4.5 pounds) of material in an area known as Oceanus Procellarum — or “Ocean of Storms” — a vast, previously unexplored lava plain, according to the science journal Nature.

The capsule will be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the Moon samples will be delivered to a research team for analysis and study, China’s space agency said.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. ExoNews.org distributes this material for the purpose of news reporting, educational research, comment and criticism, constituting Fair Use under 17 U.S.C § 107. Please contact the Editor at ExoNews with any copyright issue.

Global Superpowers Teaming Up To Build Bases On The Moon

February 15, 2020
ExoNews Editor

Article by Zero Hedge February 6, 2020 (safehaven.com)

• One year ago, China’s Chang’e 4 probe and the Yutu-2 rover it carried onboard have been busy photographing and scanning minerals, growing yeast, hatching fruit-fly eggs, and cultivating cotton, potato, and rapeseeds on the dark side of the moon. Last summer, NBC News reported that the Yutu-2 rover had come across a strange “gel-like” substance which the Chinese began to study. (see article here)

• China’s National Space Administration has continued to work on its Tiangong 3 space station and is planning on testing a new manned spacecraft for deep-space missions. That permanent station will reach orbit aboard China’s new Long March 5B rocket in the first half of 2020. The Chinese space agency plans to launch the Chang’e 5 probe into space as early as this year. Wu Yanhua, deputy chief commander of China’s Lunar Exploration Program said, “China, the United States, Russia and Europe are all discussing whether to build a research base or a research station on the moon”.

• But not so fast. Back in 2017, China and Europe made plans to build a moon base together in a move of “international collaboration”. Now, Europe and Russia plan to send a probe to the dark side of the moon and are ‘eyeing’ plans to build a joint moon base on the far side of the lunar surface. Even NASA and Russia’s Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities announced plans in 2017 for a joint moon base as part of NASA’s “deep-space gateway” concept . In 2019, it was leaked that NASA had plans of its own to develop the “Artemis” lunar surface base, which is now being threatened by a U.S. House panel. (see article here)

• These types of discussions have been going on since the 1950’s with a US government project called ‘Horizon’ which sought to establish a moon base by 1966. The idea never materialized. In 1963 at the height of the Cold War, the US and Soviet Union formed a joint project to study and develop a ‘Manned Orbiting Laboratory’. More of a US spy mission than a scientific one, the ‘MOL’ project was canceled in 1969. But now Russia and the US may revive that plan with a base that will orbit the moon similar to how the International Space Station orbits the Earth.

• The status of any plans between Russia, the U.S., China and Europe could be suddenly canceled for political reasons or something else before they ever see the light of day. But it is all good so long as it is done in the spirit of joint exploration, and not weaponization. The last thing we need is another resource-draining arms race in space or a space war.

• [Editor’s Note] How long will this charade go on? All of this is nothing more than a stall – a song and dance played out by puppet space agencies to continue the cover up of scores if not hundreds of bases throughout our solar system, mostly on Mars and the ‘dark side’ of the moon, built and occupied by a variety of secret space programs. Except these bases generally are not “surface bases” but elaborate underground facilities. In fact, the moon itself is a carved out super-base brought here by a race of refugees from the planet Maldek at the time of its explosion (now known as the asteroid belt). These space agencies must know all of this and are now positioning themselves for the inevitable disclosure of the true extent of the vast secret space programs that have been constructed since World War II, and the dawn of a new Era of Space.

One year ago in January, a Chinese robot landed on the dark side of the moon. Since then, the Chang’e 4 probe and the Yutu-2 rover it carried onboard have been busy photographing and scanning minerals, growing yeast, hatching fruit-fly eggs, and cultivating cotton, potato, and rapeseeds in the moon’s low gravity, according to the Daily Beast.

Now, China’s National Space Administration is quietly planning to launch yet another probe into space. Chang’e 5 could blast off as early as this year.

Last year, TMU reported that the Yutu-2 rover came across a strange “gel-like” substance which the Chinese began to study extensively.

The Chinese space agency has continued to work on its Tiangong 3 space station and is planning on testing a new manned spacecraft for deep-space missions. That permanent station will reach orbit aboard the country’s new Long March 5B rocket in the first half of 2020, AFP reported. The mission will not be associated with the International Space Station.

It is worth noting that China and Europe both planned on building a moon base together in a move of “international collaboration” back in 2017. Europe and Russia are also eyeing plans to send a probe to the dark side of the moon to determine if they should build a moon base on the far side of the lunar surface.

And the U.S. hasn’t been quiet when it comes to the space race either with the introduction of Space Force and plans of its own for a joint base with Russia.

For the U.S., this space race to build a moon base is nothing new. A project known as Horizon was supposedly a plan drawn up in the 1950s that seemingly depicts the blueprints for a base on the moon. Project Horizon sought to establish a stationary Army control base on the moon by 1966 but the operation was allegedly shut down and canceled and the idea never materialized further.

READ ENTIRE ARTICLE