China is seeking to return to the moon after the country launched a robotic space probe on Oct. 23. The probe is set to fly around the moon and back to Earth. The mission is all part of a master plan to send a robot to the moon in 2017 that will return to Earth with samples of the surface.
The probe, which is unmanned, is expected to swing around the moon and return to Earth in seven days at a speed of 25,000 mph and land in China's Inner Mongolia province.
From what we've come to understand, the craft is currently within orbit and has done so not too long after liftoff.
"The mission is to obtain experimental data and validate re-entry technologies such as guidance, navigation and control, heat shield and trajectory design for a future touchdown on the moon by Chang'e-5, which is expected to be sent to the moon, collect samples and return to Earth in 2017," iCrossChina reported.
"It is the first time China has conducted a test involving a half-orbit around the moon at a height of 380,000 kilometers (236,000 miles) before having the spacecraft return to Earth," the report said.
China has been romping up its space missions in the last few years, as the country seeks to catch up to the United States and Europe. Despite the country's large number and resources, it lost out to India in becoming the first nation in Asia to visit Mars orbit.
To make things even more interesting, India did it on the first try, while China is hoping to make another attempt.
A lot is being placed on the shoulder of this robotic probe, as it will be the basis of other missions to the moon in the future. The new probe has a technique called Skip Re-Entry and, if that fails, Chinese engineers will have to return to the drawing board.
It would also mean that any planned mission to acquire samples from the moon's surface in 2017 would have to be put on hold, and this is something China could do without right now.
Only time will tell if this probe will have a successful entry and re-entry.
