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.
Readers!
My July fund-raising campaign for 2021 has now ended. Thank you all for your donations and subscriptions. While this year’s campaign was not as spectacular as last year’s, it was the second best July campaign since I began this website.
And if you have not yet donated or subscribed, and you think what I write here is worth your support, you can still do so. I depend on this support to remain independent and free to write what I believe, without any pressure from others. Nor do I accept advertisements, or use oppressive social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
If you choose to help, you can contribute 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
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.
My July fund-raising campaign for 2021 has now ended. Thank you all for your donations and subscriptions. While this year’s campaign was not as spectacular as last year’s, it was the second best July campaign since I began this website.
And if you have not yet donated or subscribed, and you think what I write here is worth your support, you can still do so. I depend on this support to remain independent and free to write what I believe, without any pressure from others. Nor do I accept advertisements, or use oppressive social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
If you choose to help, you can contribute 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
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.