China is trying for the first time since the 1970s to obtain rock samples from the moon.
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Image Released, GETTY IMAGES
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The Chinese probe is carrying a Long March 5 missile
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Beijing hopes that the unmanned probe “Chang E-5”, which will launch to the moon next Tuesday, will succeed in returning samples of rocks that help to understand the origin, nature and composition of the moon.
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The last space mission of this kind was launched in 1976 using the “Luna 24” probe, launched by the former Soviet Union.
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If this probe succeeds in its mission, China will be the third country to obtain rocks from the moon after the United States and the Soviet Union.
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The Chang’e 5 spacecraft, named after the ancient Chinese goddess of the moon, is launched into space on a Long March 5 rocket.
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The mission of the Chinese probe, which will be launched to the moon after about two days, is to collect 2 kilograms of samples from the area that humans have not yet reached on the surface of the moon, which is called “Ocean of Storms” or “Ocean of Storms.”
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On the other hand, the space mission that was launched to the moon in 1976 collected 170 grams of samples, while the Apollo space mission, which landed humans for the first time ever to the moon, collected 382 kilograms of rocks and soil.
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Experts hope that the Chinese probe Chang’e 5 will be able to reach a clearer understanding of how the moon remains in a state of volcanic activity and when its magnetic field dissipates, which is the information necessary to protect life on the surface of the earth from sunlight.
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The first Chinese space mission landed on the moon’s surface in 2013, and China plans to obtain samples from Mars within ten years.
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