China to Launch Lunar Sample Return Mission in Late 2020

China is aiming to launch its complex Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission in late 2020, following launch vehicle-related delays.

The ambitious mission is now scheduled to launch atop the fifth Long March 5 heavy-lift rocket. The mission will launch from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center situated on Hainan island.

Chang’e-5 will attempt to collect and return around two kilograms of lunar samples from a site close to Mons Rümker, a volcanic formation situated in the Oceanus Procellarum region of western edge of the near side of the moon.

The mission will involve the first robotic lunar orbit rendezvous. After the lander collects samples, an ascent vehicle will liftoff and dock with an orbiter module above the moon. A return capsule will then perform a ‘skip reentry’ following separation from the orbiter close to Earth. The return capsule will deliver the samples to the same site as where the country’s Shenzhou crewed missions land.

The complexity of the mission is considered by observers to be related future crewed lunar landing ambitions. The last lunar sample return, the Soviet Union’s 1976 Luna 24 mission, utilised a much simpler direct return approach.

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Japan to Demonstrate Experiment Return Capsule on Next ISS Resupply Mission

In the mission of HTV7 (“KOUNOTORI 7”), after completing the re-supply mission to ISS, HTV7 will demonstrate the novel technology for recovering experiment samples from ISS, which Japan has not obtained up until now, by taking advantage of the opportunity of re-entry into Earth with the HTV Small Re-entry Capsule (HSRC) that will be loaded on the HTV for the first time ever.

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China Testing Lunar Sample Return Capsule

China’s space program has set its sights on landing a robotic probe on the Moon and returning samples of the lunar surface back to Earth.

To accomplish that, the country plans to launch a lunar “test orbiter” by year’s end with the intention of laying the foundation for China’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample-return mission in 2017.

The experimental recoverable orbiter has arrived at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southern province of Sichuan for its planned launch. The mission represents China’s first attempt at returning a lunar probe to Earth, as noted in an Aug. 10 statement by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND).

The test orbiter mission involves a high-speed re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere as a precursor checkout for the Chang’e 5 sample-return mission. A specially designed re-entry capsule will return from the vicinity of the Moon into Earth’s atmosphere, take the heat and then land.

The Chang’e 4 orbiter is the backup for the Chang’e 3 mission, which delivered China’s first lander and rover on the lunar surface in 2013, according to China news agencies, but adapted to verify the technologies needed for the Chang’e 5 mission.

According to China’s CCTV, the soon-to-be-launched probe will be placed into lunar orbit. Tests would be carried out there, with the vehicle blasting out of lunar orbit and returning to Earth.

There was early speculation that this test vehicle might fly a circumlunar trajectory, rounding the Moon, then hurtle the hardware Earthward to carry out the high-speed appraisal of the return capsule.

But according to China’s Xinhua News Agency, the plan is for the orbiter to be launched into lunar orbit and return to Earth at an escape velocity of 11.2 kilometers per second.

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Is This China's Sample Return Probe for the Moon?

The Scientific Value of a Sample Return From Phobos

The value of Phobos sample return

Authors:

Murchie et al

Abstract:

Phobos occupies a unique position physically, scientifically, and programmatically on the road to exploration of the solar system. It is a low-gravity object moderately inside the gravity well of Mars. Scientifically, it is both an enigma and an opportunity: an enigma because the origins of both it and Deimos are uncertain, and provide insights into formation of the terrestrial planets; and an opportunity because Phobos may be a waypoint or staging point for future human exploration of the Mars system. Phobos is a low albedo, spectrally bland body with a red-sloped continuum. It appears similar to D-type objects more commonly found in the outer asteroid belt and Jovian space (Rivkin et al., 2002), but occurs in an orbit that is difficult to explain by capture (Burns, 1992). It might have a primitive composition like that inferred for outer solar system objects or it could be related to Mars and, for example, be composed of Martian basin ejecta. Regardless, Phobos has acted as a witness plate to Martian debris over the age of the solar system. The moons may possibly be a source of in situ resources that could support future human exploration in circum-Mars space or on the Martian surface. In situ compositional analyses can address many questions relevant to preparation for future human exploration. Sample return resolves those questions while also enabling detailed analyses in terrestrial laboratories to address higher order questions, many of which have not yet been asked.

Asteroid 1996 FG3 Characterized as a Potential Sample Return Target

Shape, Thermal and Surface Properties determination of a Candidate Spacecraft Target Asteroid (175706) 1996 FG3

Authors:

Yu et al

Abstract:

In this paper, a 3D convex shape model of (175706) 1996 FG3, which consists of 2040 triangle facets and 1022 vertices, is derived from the known lightcurves. The best-fit orientation of the asteroid's spin axis is determined to be λ=237.7∘ and β=−83.8∘ considering the observation uncertainties, and its rotation period is ∼ 3.5935 h . Using the derived shape model, we adopt the so-called advanced thermophysical model (ATPM) to fit three published sets of mid-infrared observations of 1996 FG3 \citep{Wolters2011,Walsh2012}, so as to evaluate its surface properties. Assuming the primary and the secondary bear identical shape, albedo, thermal inertia and surface roughness, the best-fit parameters are obtained from the observations. The geometric albedo and effective diameter of the asteroid are reckoned to be pv=0.045±0.002, Deff=1.69+0.05−0.02 km. The diameters of the primary and secondary are determined to be D1=1.63+0.04−0.03 km and D2=0.45+0.04−0.03 km, respectively. The surface thermal inertia Γ is derived to be a low value of 80±40Jm−2s−0.5K−1 with a roughness fraction fR of 0.8+0.2−0.4. This indicates that the primary possibly has a regolith layer on its surface, which is likely to be covered by a mixture of dust, fragmentary rocky debris and sand. The minimum regolith depth is estimated to be 5∼20mm from the simulations of subsurface temperature distribution, indicating that 1996 FG3 could be a very suitable target for a sample return mission.