Courtesy of the Chinese Manned Spaceflight Administration
In 2020, China was preparing for its second landing on the moon as part of a sample-return mission of lunar regolith. Dramatic belly-cam footage was captured of the lander’s descent and touchdown.
It shows the craft approaching the Oceanus Procellarum (Ocean of Storms) region of the moon at high speed and at an angle.
What begins looking like a moon made of modeling puddy quickly enters into focus as Chang’e-5 hurtles towards the ground. Having landed, Space.com edits the video to include footage of the drillbit boring into the moon’s surface.
Space.com adds that the land actually used a suite of instruments including lasers to search for an even and safe landing zone. Chang’e-5 at one point appears to hover, before rapidly descending.
Named after a mythical moon goddess, Chang’e-5 was the 5th in a projected series of 8 lunar missions undertaken by China’s space program. Chang’e-5 was a complete success and brought back the first samples of lunar rock and soil since the Apollo missions.
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The 3.6 pounds of regolith samples returned date to around 1.9 billion years ago—adolescent as compared to the age of those brought back from the Apollo missions. It’s possible that multi-cellular organisms were already evolving on Earth by the time these minerals were created.
Inside the regolith they found about 120 parts per million of hydroxyls, indicating the presence of water that was probably embedded there by the solar wind.
The footage below was released by the CMSA, but it’s also available edited, sped up, and with the drilling footage, here on Space.com
WATCH The footage below…
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