For the first time since 1976, a spacecraft goes to the moon to collect lunar soil and rocks and return them to Earth. Chinese lunar lander Chang’e 5 is scheduled to set off tonight to land in a few days at Mons Rümker, a volcanic formation at the top left of the visible side of the moon. The moon rocks come to Earth in mid-December. What good is it for us?
During the latest collection mission, Apollo astronauts brought more than 380 kilograms of lunar soil and rocks to Earth, three Russian Luna landers retrieved a few more hundred grams. That may seem like a lot, but for planet scientists like Wim van Westrenen, professor at VU University Amsterdam, it is never enough. Every location on the moon tells a different story. “Suppose you go to Paris and you say that through that visit you know all of France. That’s kind of what happened with the Apollo landings. They’ve only been on a very short distance from the moon. Now we’re going to the Provence, say. “
Chang’e 5 is to land in a place far from where the Apollo astronauts previously landed. A place that is also geologically billions of years younger than those Apollo landing sites. “Chang’e 5 will land on volcanic material from the subsurface of the moon, but from much later than the material we know so far,” says Van Westrenen. “You can learn from that, for example, how quickly the moon has cooled after its formation, whether there are other rocks in the subsurface, whether the chemical composition is different from what we now know. The Apollo missions also all landed in places with rocks. which are a little strange compared to the rest of the moon. So through these new stones we will get a better picture of the moon. “
A Chinese government channel made this animation of the mission:
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