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https://weibo.com/ttarticle/x/m/show/id/2309404588117658304657?_wb_client_=1 CLEP announced the extended mission for CE-5 orbitor: Long-term Sun-Earth L1 point orbiting exploration mission, including trans S-E L1 point orbit and S-E L1 point orbiting orbit design and control, analysis the illumination and radioactive environments at S-E L1 point, performing communication test when solar transit of orbitor occurred. More future mission will be planned depends on the orbitor and other conditions

In the interview with Song Zhengyu,chief designer of LM-8, if they have enough productivity the LM-8 is expected to launch 30 times per year in 2022, which means it will replace the old LM series in the future. Sauce: https://weibo.com/2645044133/JzDEYlkbg

Official confirmed the success of LM-8 maiden launch

https://weibo.com/5616492130/Jzox47uBi in the latest interview with Hu Hao, Chief Designer of CLEP Phase 3 Mission, Hu said the drills on CE-5 lander blocked by multiple rock layers so it only drilled less than 1m (2m expected), which result in the loss of sample. About the orbitor, Hu said the orbitor saved 200kg of fuel in the whole mission, now they planned to visit L1 point of Earth-moon system first.

It's US that decided not to coop with CNSA. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_exclusion_policy_of_NASA Official confirmed total 1731g lunal samples collected. Personally I think the density of the lunar sample there maybe lower than expected.

Like the CE-1 mission, the ascender had done all of its job, so they crashed it to keep the clearance of near Lunar space as they said.

Official confirmed that the Ascender had intentionally crashed on around Lan 30°S, Lon 0° at UTC 23:30, Dec 7th.

more clear footage of how the sample can transfer to reentry module Sample can requires to travel 630 mm distance from ascender to reentry module. To reduce the length of transfer mechanisms, the whole transfer mechanism includes two pairs of pawls (gif shows one of them, another one is located between docking mechanism and ascender ) and gears on sample can which formed a ratchet device. It take 4 rounds of push-and-back operation to transfer the sample can into the reentry module in around 10 mins.

A 4 minutes video about maneuvering, docking, capturing, sample transfer and hatch sealing. And about two hours ago the ascender and docking mechanism just seperated from orbitor