Chang'e-5 Brought Home 1.7 Kilograms of Lunar Samples

By Nancy Atkinson January 5, 2021
Chang'e-5 Brought Home 1.7 Kilograms of Lunar Samples

China’s Chang'e-5 lunar lander retrieved about 1.7 kilograms (3.81 pounds) of samples from the Moon, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).  The Chang’e-5 sample return capsule landed in China’s Inner Mongolia region on December 16, 2020, successfully capping a 23-day odyssey that brought back the first lunar rocks since 1976.

CNSA handed over Chang’e-5’s samples to the lunar sample lab at the National Astronomical Observatories at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on December 19. Chinese scientists are currently performing detailed analyses of the samples.

In a press release, officials said they plan to share a portion of the lunar material with other countries for cooperative scientific research. CNSA said it would “release the relevant policies for the lunar samples retrieved by Chang'e-5 to coordinate and promote scientific research, encourage more scientists at home and abroad to participate, and strive to secure more scientific achievements.”

Staff members handle the capsule containing lunar samples returned by the Chang’e 5 mission. Credit: Xinhua

Whether or not U.S. scientists will receive an allocation of samples will hinge on a change in U.S. policy restricting cooperation between NASA and China’s space program. Read more about the debate in our previous article on the Chang’e-5 launch.

The mission made China the third country to successfully return samples from the Moon, after the United States and Russia. The last samples returned in 1976 came from the Soviet Union’s robotic Luna 24 mission.

China's Long March 5 rocket sends the Chang'e-5 probe on the first leg of its mission to the moon and back. (CNSA / CLEP Photo)

Chang’e-5 launched on November 24, 2020 and following a week’s transit, the spacecraft’s orbiter sent a lander down to the lunar surface on December 1st. The lander collected samples from the near side of the Moon in the Oceanus Procellarum, or Ocean of Storms, east of a volcanic plateau named Mons Rümker. The sample container could hold as much as two kilograms of rock and dirt.

Officials said the study of the lunar samples will help to expand the scientific understanding of the universe's formation and evolution, and that CNSA will also carry out public science popularization programs and cultural exchanges related to the mission.

Chang'e-5's soot-streaked sample return capsule sits amid the snows of Inner Mongolia with a Chinese flag set up nearby. (Image via CCTV)

The Chang’e-5 mission came after successful landings of Chinese spacecraft on the Moon in 2013 and 2019. Chang’e-4's landing in 2019 was the first soft touchdown of a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon.

China’s next lunar mission, Chang’e-6, will attempt to return samples from the Moon’s south pole region in 2023.

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson

Nancy Atkinson is a space journalist and author with a passion for telling the stories of people involved in space exploration and astronomy. She is currently retired from daily writing, but worked at Universe Today for 20 years as a writer and editor. She also contributed articles to The Planetary Society, Ad Astra (National Space Society), New Scientist and many other online outlets.

Her 2019 book, "Eight Years to the Moon: The History of the Apollo Missions,” shares the untold stories of engineers and scientists who worked behind the scenes to make the Apollo program so successful, despite the daunting odds against it. Her first book “Incredible Stories From Space: A Behind-the-Scenes Look at the Missions Changing Our View of the Cosmos” (2016) tells the stories of 37 scientists and engineers that work on several current NASA robotic missions to explore the solar system and beyond.

Nancy is also a NASA/JPL Solar System Ambassador, and through this program, she has the opportunity to share her passion of space and astronomy with children and adults through presentations and programs. Nancy's personal website is nancyatkinson.com