<h1 class="ql-align-center">Chang'e-5 probe</h1> <h2>Context:</h2> <ul><li>The Europlanet Society has released details from the samples brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 Lunar Mission in December 2020.</li></ul> <h2>About:</h2> <ul><li>It is an&nbsp;unmanned spacecraft&nbsp;by China and the probe is named after the mythical Chinese&nbsp;moon goddess.</li></ul> <ul><li>The rocket&nbsp;comprises four parts:&nbsp;</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Orbiter</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Returner</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Ascender</li><li class="ql-indent-1">Lander</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">It is the&nbsp;fifth lunar exploration mission of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, and&nbsp;China's first lunar sample-return mission.</li></ul> <ul><li>The Chang’e-5 lunar mission delivered to Earth nearly 2 kg of rocky fragments and dust from the Moon.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-indent-1">The rocks are also different from those returned decades ago.</li></ul> <ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Chang'e-5 will help scientists understand what was happening late in the moon's history, as well as how Earth and the solar system evolved.</li></ul> <h2 class="ql-align-justify">Key Findings:</h2> <ul><li>90% of the materials collected by Chang’e-5 likely derive from the landing site and its immediate surroundings, which are of a type termed ‘mare basalts’.</li></ul> <ul><li>These volcanic rocks are visible to us as the darker grey areas that spilled over much of the nearside of the Moon as ancient eruptions of lava.</li></ul> <ul><li>Yet 10% percent of the fragments have distinctly different, ‘exotic’ chemical compositions.</li></ul>