GRAPHICS BY CHINA DAILY
Ten, nine, eight, seven ... With a dazzling flame trailing behind, the fifth Long March 5 carrier rocket with the Chang’e 5 lunar probe launched at 4:30 am on Nov 24.
十、九、八、七……拖着耀眼的尾焰，搭载“嫦娥五号”月球探测器的“长征五号”运载火箭于11月24日凌晨4时30分发射升空。
The Chang’e 5 lunar probe plans to return with samples of the moon. The entire mission will last about 23 days, according to the China National Space Administration. If this mission is successful, Chang’e 5 will be the first lunar sample-return spacecraft since 1976, when the former Soviet Union’s unmanned Luna 24 brought 170.1 grams of lunar samples back.
嫦娥五号月球探测器计划带回月球样本。中国国家航天局表示，整个任务周期约23天。如果此次任务成功，嫦娥五号将成为1976年以来首个实现月球采样返回的探测器。1976年，前苏联的月球24号无人探测器带回了170.1克月球样本。
As one of the most complex and difficult missions in China’s aerospace field, the Chang’e 5 mission aims to bring back a larger sample than previous crafts and explore a new area of the moon.
作为中国航空航天领域最复杂、难度最大的任务之一，嫦娥五号任务的目标是比以往的航天器带回更多的样本，并探索月球新区域。
“The three unmanned lunar probes of the former Soviet Union – Lunar 16, Lunar 20 and Lunar 24 – carried out three lunar samplings and return missions, and the lunar soil samples brought back were only about 330 grams, while Chang’e 5 plans to bring back 2 kilograms of lunar samples,” Pang Zhihao, a space activity researcher and author in Beijing, told Science and Technology Daily. The great increase in sample weight can be attributed to Chang’e 5’s lunar orbit unmanned docking program. With the program, the ascender doesn’t need a return cabin anymore. It only requires a small amount of fuel, so even a relatively heavier sampling will not affect the normal return of the spacecraft.
“前苏联三个无人月球探测器（月球16号、月球20号和月球24号）进行了三次月球采样返回任务，带回的月球土壤样本仅约330克，而嫦娥五号计划带回的月球样本有2千克，”现居北京的空间活动研究员、作家庞志浩在接受《科技日报》采访时如此表示。样本重量的大幅增加可以归功于嫦娥五号的月球轨道无人交会对接技术。有了这一技术，上升器无需再使用返回器。上升器只需少量燃料，因此即便是相对更重的样本也不会影响航天器的正常返回。
The climax of the journey is Chang’e 5’s lunar landing site – the northwest region of Oceanus Procellarum, also known as the Ocean of Storms – on the near side of the moon, where no probes have visited before. It’s geologically younger than the sampling areas of the US and the former Soviet missions, so the new samples will help fill in an important piece of the puzzle of the moon’s history.
此次探月之旅最精彩之处在于嫦娥五号的着陆区域——月球近月面西北部的风暴洋，此前从未有探测器到达过这里。这块区域的地质年龄比美国与前苏联的任务采样区域更年轻，因此新样本将有助于填补月球历史之谜中的一块重要空缺。
“Chinese scientists and those from other countries all have a chance to get the lunar samples to be brought back by Chang’e 5 for research,” Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, told China Daily.
“中外科学家都有机会获得嫦娥五号带回的月球样本来进行研究，” 探月与航天工程中心副主任裴照宇在接受《中国日报》采访时如此表示。
Based on the idea of a community with a shared future for mankind, China has signed cooperation framework agreements with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, Russia’s state space corporation Roscosmos and the European Space Agency.
基于人类命运共同体的理念，我国已与联合国外太空事务处、俄罗斯联邦航天局及欧洲航天局签署了合作框架协议。
