On Tuesday, China launched its robotic spacecraft to Moon Chang’e-5 to collect rock samples from the Moon. It was launched on a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan, China.

If the mission is successful, the spacecraft will return to Earth in mid-December 2020.

With this mission, China is trying to become the third country to collect lunar rock samples. Only the United States and the Soviet Union (Russia) have done it.

How will the samples be collected?

The process of collecting lunar samples is quite complicated. The 8200-kg spacecraft to Moon is made up of an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner.

Once it is in the Moon’s orbit, Chang’e-5 will deploy the lander and ascender to the surface to drill into the ground.

The lander will collect soil and rock samples and the ascender will carry the samples back up to the orbiter. There, the samples will be put into a capsule (returner) for being sent back to Earth.

The orbiter-returner will then start the journey back to Earth. The returner will eventually separate from the orbiter, re-enter our atmosphere, and land in Inner Mongolia, China.

The probe will attempt to collect 2 kg of samples.

Chang’e-5 plans to land at a massive lava plain known as Oceanus Procellarum.

The rocks in this location are thought to be very young compared with those brought back by the US Apollo astronauts and the Soviet Luna robots.

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