Chang'e 5 - The attempt to collect samples from the Moon and bring them back to Earth.

[pmborg]

On this youtube playlist there is a SET of 15 videos of the Chang’e-5 lunar mission:

 

[050644zf]

Ascender and Docking Mechanism estimated seperate from Orbitor at 4:35 Dec 6th UTC

Edited December 5, 2020 by 050644zf

[050644zf]

The Ascender may have extra mission due to fuel redundancy from excellent ascending and docking performance 

[050644zf]

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

[050644zf]

 

[050644zf]

 

 

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.

Edited December 6, 2020 by 050644zf

[050644zf]

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

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

4 hours ago, 050644zf said:

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

When I jumped out of an airplane and slowed my descent down with a parachute - we called the impact a 'landing' even though it requires a sort of parkour roll to keep from shattering several bones. 

 

Why then are the Chinese intentionally and officially crashing the ascender? 

Just now, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

 

blockquote widget

Edited December 8, 2020 by JoeSchmuckatelli

[050644zf]

1 minute ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Why then are the Chinese intentionally and officially crashing the ascender? 

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.

[magnemoe]

18 minutes ago, 050644zf said:

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.

As I understand low moon orbit is pretty self cleaning. 
More likely it was to get seismology on impact. Later Apollo missions crashed the 3rd stages for this reason. 

[JoeSchmuckatelli]

42 minutes ago, 050644zf said:

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.

Hah - I missed that.  For some reason my muddled first cup of coffee brain thought they'd recovered the sample container and called it the ascender. 

 

Now with sufficient caffeination I realize my humor has been foiled by my own misperception! 

[magnemoe]

1 hour ago, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

Hah - I missed that.  For some reason my muddled first cup of coffee brain thought they'd recovered the sample container and called it the ascender. 

 

Now with sufficient caffeination I realize my humor has been foiled by my own misperception! 

you are not alone here  

[YNM]

7 hours ago, 050644zf said:

Official confirmed that the Ascender had intentionally crashed on

3 hours ago, magnemoe said:

More likely it was to get seismology on impact.

Is there still a working seismometer up there ? Maybe on one of the earlier landers, if there's one ?

[magnemoe]

13 minutes ago, YNM said:

Is there still a working seismometer up there ? Maybe on one of the earlier landers, if there's one ?

The lander has drilled an hole in the moon, not sure if an seismometer is included, or perhaps the lander for the rover on the back side. 
If not they could just kept it there for future tests. 

[YNM]

To be fair, if any of the landed spacecraft is still working and have active accelerometers and is sensitive enough, it's a kind of seismometer...

[Brotoro]

Do we know when Chang'e 5 is scheduled to boost back toward Earth?

[pmborg]

31 minutes ago, Brotoro said:

Do we know when Chang'e 5 is scheduled to boost back toward Earth?

Hello,

Right now Chang'e 5 is still waiting in Moon orbit for the time-window to do the prograde into Earth direction.

The Burn it will be on Saturday (12/Dez/2020) 21:50 WET, then more 3 days to arrive at Earth Orbit at 5000Km and then it will bouncing off the atmosphere once, and then the final entry.

Edited December 10, 2020 by pmborg

[Brotoro]

Thank you.

This  mission certainly has been exciting in the same way the the Apollo moon missions were exciting, with stuff happening quickly (compared to the slow pace of interplanetary missions we are used to nowadays). 

[pmborg]

Chang'e-5 orbiter-returner completes orbital maneuver to prepare for return Earth:

 

[wumpus]

On 12/8/2020 at 7:21 AM, JoeSchmuckatelli said:

When I jumped out of an airplane and slowed my descent down with a parachute - we called the impact a 'landing' even though it requires a sort of parkour roll to keep from shattering several bones. 

If you can get up and do it again, it is a *great* landing.  Breaking bones might not be such a good landing, as you wouldn't "walk away from it".

[pmborg]

Chang'e 5: Landing site in north China ready for Chang'e 5's return with lunar sample:

 

[050644zf]

 

[pmborg]

The capsule of the Chang’e 5 probe landed in the Siziwang district of the Inner Mongolia region, state media reported shortly after 2:00 a.m. (1800 GMT).

https://apnews.com/article/technology-china-moon-da510a5fd9a97505296ddbdb5749c393

 

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by pmborg

[Brotoro]

And... Did they recover it?

[pmborg]

24 minutes ago, Brotoro said:

And... Did they recover it?

Yes.

https://spacenews.com/china-recovers-change-5-moon-samples-after-complex-23-day-mission/

 

Edited December 16, 2020 by pmborg