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The Chinese Chang e 5 Module (YouTube)
On Thursday, December 17, China successfully brought 4.4 pounds of lunar rocks and material back from the moon. It would appear that the Space Race and great power competition may be on once again.
Until Thursday, lunar samples had not been collected since 1976, making this recent event impossible to ignore for the U.S. and Russia. The three-week mission was accomplished with an unmanned spacecraft, known as Chang’e-5. The spacecraft traveled to Mons Rümker, a volcanic plain in an area of the moon that has never been explored, according to National Geographic.
Chang’e-5 deployed a lander onto the moon, which drilled and collected samples, and stored them in the module. The lander then launched into lunar orbit and eventually linked up with Chang’e-5, which returned the module to Earth.
Steven Lee Myers and Kenneth Chang, The New York Times
Published: 17 Dec 2020 11:02 AM BdST
Updated: 17 Dec 2020 11:02 AM BdST Researchers work around Chang e-5 lunar return capsule carrying moon samples next to a Chinese national flag, after it landed in northern China s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, December 17, 2020. China Daily via REUTERS
China may have been a latecomer to the moon, but when its capsule full of lunar rocks and soil returned to Earth early Thursday, it set the stage for a new space race over the coming decades. This time, it will be a competition over resources on the moon that could propel deeper space exploration.