Chinese Unmanned Robot Chang'e 5 Successfully Lands On The Moon

Moon lander Chang'e 5 (dok. Chines National Space Administration)

JAKARTA - China has successfully landed its robot space probe, Chang'e 5, on the surface of the Moon. While there, the robot will be tasked with collecting samples of the Moon's rocks and bringing them back to Earth.

Citing the South China Morning Post, the Chang'e-5 spacecraft was carried into space by the Long March-5, China's largest carrier rocket, which was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the island of Hainan, southern China, on November 24.

"Chang'e 5 successfully landed on the surface of the moon," the Xinhua media reported, Tuesday, December 1 this morning.

This is China's most ambitious space mission. Moreover, the last sample of material it had was taken by China only from the USSR's Luna-24 mission, in 1976.

If all goes according to plan, the lander will collect rocks and soil with its robotic arm and transfer it to the ascender vehicle. Later, the ascender will take off again to the orbiting modular. There, the sample will be transferred to a capsule to be brought back to Earth in about 23 days.

In July, China also launched its first independent mission to Mars. China also plans to build its own space station in 2022 and send a probe to Jupiter in 2029.