Change’-5 successfully gets sample from drilling
The new colonial movement: According to the state-run Chinese press, Chang’e-5 has successfully obtained its first lunar sample from a 2-meter deep drilled hole.
After making a successful soft landing at 11:00 p.m. BJT on Tuesday, the lander started rolling out its solar panel wings and unlocking some of the payloads onboard to prepare for sample collection.
The lander first drilled a 2-meter-deep hole, digging out soil, and sealed it up at 4:53 a.m. on Wednesday [today]. Next, it will use its robotic arms to scoop up more samples from the lunar surface for backup.
If all goes right, they will collect a second sample from the surface using a scoop, and then the ascent capsule will take off tomorrow. It will then rendezvous and dock with the orbiter and return capsule.
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The new colonial movement: According to the state-run Chinese press, Chang’e-5 has successfully obtained its first lunar sample from a 2-meter deep drilled hole.
After making a successful soft landing at 11:00 p.m. BJT on Tuesday, the lander started rolling out its solar panel wings and unlocking some of the payloads onboard to prepare for sample collection.
The lander first drilled a 2-meter-deep hole, digging out soil, and sealed it up at 4:53 a.m. on Wednesday [today]. Next, it will use its robotic arms to scoop up more samples from the lunar surface for backup.
If all goes right, they will collect a second sample from the surface using a scoop, and then the ascent capsule will take off tomorrow. It will then rendezvous and dock with the orbiter and return capsule.
I must unfortunately ask you for your financial support because I do not depend on ads and rely entirely on the generosity of readers to keep Behind the Black running. You can either make a one time donation for whatever amount you wish, or you sign up for a monthly subscription ranging from $2 to $15 through Paypal or $3 to $50 through Patreon.
Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I not only keep this site free from advertisements, I do not use the corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to promote my work. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Or you can donate by using Zelle through your bank. You will need to give my name and email address (found at the bottom of the "About" page). The best part of this electronic option is that no fees will be deducted! What you donate will be what I receive.
How come the Chinese are able to drill six feet into the moon, when the drill on our Mars lander can’t make it more than a couple inches?
Skunk Bucket: Good question. Remember however that the InSight drill on Mars was not made by the U.S. It is a wholly German project.
Do the Chinese report partial success and/or failure when they are the sole source of information?
I’m not sure I recall a report of partial failure from the Chinese, they definitely highlight their successes, and take care to hide failures as much as they can.
This current Chang’e mission is pretty impressive, and while I’m no fan of the Chinese, I hope everything goes well. Even though this is something that’s been done before, there’s something to be said for doing it again with modern technology. This image they just released, for example, is just stunning, and I believe the highest resolution picture yet sent from the surface by far: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CihdxsRSe9By8O9UtHLWE8dG-Nq2JwWg/view
That’s a great picture. I really hope to see more activity on the moon soon.
As far as drilling on Mars goes, I fully believe NASA is capable of drilling even much further. I think they just took a risk by not over engineering the probe and trying to cover all the possible scenarios. They saved some money and ill guess the mission wouldn’t have ever launched if they hadn’t. It’s always a trade off and they get bad press either way. I personally think the planetary missions are doing a good trade off between risk and reward. If nothing goes wrong ever, they’re over engineering and won’t accomplish as much. When probes miss their intended planets, they’re risking too much.