Chang’e 5 – Sample Return
Launch: Late 2020
Chang’e 5 is a Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) lunar sample return mission has been rescheduled to launch in late 2020. The mission goal is to land in the Mons Rumker region of Oceanus Procellarum (roughly 41-45 deg. N, 49-69 deg. W), and return up to 2 kg of lunar regolith, possibly from as deep as 2 meters. The mission is reported to consist of four modules. Two of the modules will land on the Moon, one designed to collect samples and transfer them to the second module, designed to ascend from the lunar surface into orbit, where it will dock with a third module. Finally the samples will be transferred to the fourth module, also in lunar orbit, which will return them to Earth. The spacecraft carries a Panoramic Camera (PCAM), Lunar Regolith Penetrating Radar (LRPR), and the Lunar Mineralogical Spectrometer (LMS).
The Chang’e 5-T1, launched in 2014, was a test flight to validate the atmospheric re-entry design of the sample return capsule.
