Chang’e-6 ascender carrying lunar samples lifts off Moon
Chang’e-6’s robot arm grabbing ground samples.
Image is a screen capture from mission control
main screen. Click for original.
Early today the ascender of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe lifted off the surface on the Moon’s far side, carrying the samples it had obtained both by drilling and the use of a robot arm.
The ascender took off at 7:38 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the moon’s far side. A 3,000-newton engine, after working for about six minutes, pushed the ascender to the preset lunar orbit, according to the CNSA.
The Chang’e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner — like its predecessor Chang’e-5 — was launched on May 3. The lander-ascender combination, separated from the orbiter-returner combination on May 30, touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.
The spacecraft finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned, the CNSA said.
At some point, not yet specified, the ascender will dock with the orbiter-returner and transfer the samples to the returner, which after a period in orbit awaiting the right moment will then separate and head back to Earth.
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Chang’e-6’s robot arm grabbing ground samples.
Image is a screen capture from mission control
main screen. Click for original.
Early today the ascender of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe lifted off the surface on the Moon’s far side, carrying the samples it had obtained both by drilling and the use of a robot arm.
The ascender took off at 7:38 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the moon’s far side. A 3,000-newton engine, after working for about six minutes, pushed the ascender to the preset lunar orbit, according to the CNSA.
The Chang’e-6 probe, comprising an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a returner — like its predecessor Chang’e-5 — was launched on May 3. The lander-ascender combination, separated from the orbiter-returner combination on May 30, touched down at the designated landing area in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on June 2.
The spacecraft finished its intelligent and rapid sampling work, and the samples were stowed in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned, the CNSA said.
At some point, not yet specified, the ascender will dock with the orbiter-returner and transfer the samples to the returner, which after a period in orbit awaiting the right moment will then separate and head back to Earth.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
All good practice for when they succeed in bringing back a Mars Sample.
The Curtiss XP-55 Ascender was a pusher engine fighter, the opposite of normal (tractor) prop orientation so was nicked with a vulgar alternative to “Tail Ender” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender