China prepping for mission to bring back material from moon
Chinese technicians were making final preparations Monday for a mission to bring back material from the moon's surface for the first time in more than four decades—an undertaking that could boost human understanding of the moon and of the solar system more generally.phys.org
China launched the first Lunar Return mission in forty years. The mission is to drill 2 meters beneath the moon's surface and scoop up about 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of rocks and other debris to be brought back to Earth. The last time Lunar rocks were recovered was by unmanned Soviet space probes back in the 1970's and prior to that several hundred pounds of moon rocks were recovered by the various manned US Apollo missions to the Moon.
China's moon rock mission was apparently a success.
Docking done, China’s Chang’e moon mission is ready to return to Earth
In a complex manoeuvre, the lunar probe linked up with the orbiter and transferred rock and soil
amp.scmp.com
And across the East Asian pond Japans probe successfully collected some ancient asteroid dust.
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