Change′5 (CE 5)

Launch data: Designation  47097 / 20087A Launch date  23 Nov 2020 - 20:30 UTC Launch site  Wenchang, LC101 Launch vehicle  CZ-5 (Y5) Mission  Lunar lander & rover Heliocentric orbit: Perihelion / Aphelion   A.U. Eccentricity   Inclination  ° Period   min

Chang′e 5 probe separating from the launcher (artist′s impression)

Spacecraft data: Prime manufacturer  CAST/Beijing Platform   Operator   Mass at launch  8200 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension (m)   Equipment   Solar array   Stabilization   Propulsion   DC power   Recovery date capsule  16 Dec 2020 (.75) Location  Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia

The Chang′e-5 Lander and Ascender Combination in the factory. Credit: China News Service, CC BY 3.0_ #98

Chang′e-5 spacecraft stack undergoing testing. Credit: CCTV/framegrab

The selected landing area for the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return. Credit: Phil Stooke

Description:

• Chang′e-5 consists of a number of components:
  • SM, Service module, which will perform lunar orbit insertion and transearth insertion burns.
    Chinese name: Guidao Qi (orbiter vehicle)
  • DS, descent stage (Lander), which will separate in lunar orbit, land near Mons Rumker, and obtain a surface sample.
    Chinese name: Zhuolu Qi (lander vehicle)
  • AS, Ascent stage, which will take off from the lunar surface carrying the sample and dock with the service module′s docking adapter in lunar orbit.
    Chinese name: Shangsheng Qi (ascent vehicle)
  • AD, Adapter, which joins the service module to the lander at launch and contains the return capsule and docking adapter.
    Chinese name: Lianje Zhijia (connecting frame, adapter). Left in lunar orbit.
  • DA, Docking adapter, mounted on top of the return capsule. Contains a mechanism to transfer the sample from the ascent stage to the return capsule.
    Chinese name: Jiaohui duijie jigou (rendezvous/docking mechanism)
  • RV, Return capsule, which separates from the service module and lands in China.
    Chinese name: Fanhui Qi (return vehicle)

Mission details:

• China′s CALT launched a Chang Zheng 5 (serial Y5) from Wenchang at 2030 UTC on Nov 23, 2020. The second stage reached parking orbit at 2042 UTC and reignited at 2058 UTC for a 7 minute burn to enter a high apogee orbit.
  At 2016 UTC the payload, the Chang′e-5 moon probe, separated from the second stage.
• The 8200 kg Chang′e-5, developed by CAST/Beijing and the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is a robotic sample return mission - the first such to the Moon since Luna-24 in 1976. The mission successfully landed on the Moon and returned its samples to Earth after a 23 day mission. It include the first automatic rendezvous, docking and sample transfer in deep space.
• The mission was pretty complicated, here a attempt to list the various stages of it (all times UTC):
  • Nov 23 2030 Launch
  • Nov 23 2042 Earth parking orbit, attached to CZ-5 stage 2
  • Nov 23 2058 7 minute translunar injection burn by CZ-5 stage 2, cutoff at 2105
  • Nov 23 2106 CE-5 separates from stage 2, stage 2 propellant dump to 22 x 291690 km orbit
  • Nov 23 2107 Translunar coast, 201 x 392980 km x 21.3 deg
  • Nov 24 1406 TCM-1 trajectory correction manuever
  • Nov 25 1406 TCM-2 trajectory correction manuever
  • Nov 27 0800 CZ-5 second stage reaches apogee at 291690 km
  • Nov 27 1840 CE-5 enters lunar gravitational sphere of influence
  • Nov 28 1258 Lunar orbit insertion burn to 216 x 5585 km x 42.4 deg elliptical orbit, burn completed 1315 UTC
  • Nov 29 1223 Lunar orbit manuever to 217 x 217 km x 42.4 deg circular orbit
  • Nov 29 2040 DS+AS separate from SM+AD (with DA+RV inside AD), in lunar orbit
  • Nov 30 1423 DS+AS move to low perilune orbit, 19 x 217 km
  • Nov 30 1541 CZ-5 second stage reenters over 136W 4N
  • Nov 30 1822 DS+AS move to pre-descent orbit, about 19 x 67 km?
  • Nov 30 2345? SM+AD move to low perilune orbit (77? x 217? km)
  • Dec 1 1458 DS begins powered descent burn
  • Dec 1 1511 DS+AS land on the Moon at about 51.9W 43.1N, in northeast Oceanus Procellarum, north of the Louville Omega hills.
  • Dec 2 1946? AD is ejected from SM+RV+DA, in lunar orbit, Dec 2
  • Dec 2 2053 DS+AS sample collection complete
  • Dec 3 1510:21 AS takes off from Lunar base, leaving DS on the Moon
  • Dec 3 1527 AS enters lunar orbit and begins rendezvous with SM+RV+DA.
  • Dec 4? AS rendezvous burns 2 and 3
  • Dec 5 2142 AS docks with DA;
  • Dec 5 2212 DA transfers sample from AS to RV.
  • Dec 6 0335 AS+DA ejected from SM+RV.
  • Dec 7 2259 AS+DA deorbit burn
  • Dec 7 2330 AS+DA impact lunar surface near 0E 30S
  • Dec 12 0154 SM+RV move to elliptical lunar orbit, about 215 x 5680 km x 42 deg
  • Dec 13 0151 SM+RV perform transearth insertion burn, 22 min duration
  • Dec 13 0213 SM+RV TEI burn shutdown, on lunar escape hyperbola
  • Dec 13 1700? SM+RV leave Lunar gravitational sphere of influence, begin trans-earth coast Dec 14 0313 SM course correction
  • Dec 16 0115 SM course correction
  • Dec 16 1712? RV separates from SM, 5000 km altitude
  • Dec 16 1715? SM avoidance manuever (to entry or to escape?)
  • Dec 16 1733 RV Earth atmosphere entry 120 km, 11.2 km/s
  • Dec 16 1733? SM destroyed in Earth atmosphere entry, *or* performs avoidance burn and returns towards Moon?
  • Dec 16 1735? RV skip perigee at 60 km
  • Dec 16 1740? RV skip apogee at 120 km
  • Dec 16 1749 RV second atmosphere entry over China
  • Dec 16? RV jettisons aeroshell, deploys parachute
  • Dec 16 1759 RV lands in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, 111 26 20E 42 20 19 N
  • 2021? AD in lunar orbit perturbed by mascons and impacts lunar surface (probably within 1 year)

Basic Lunar Return Mission Trajectory (Apollo) – Image: NASA

Frame from Chang′e-5′s camera on the descent

The Chang′e-5 reentry capsule in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, Dec. 16, 2020. Credit: CNSA/CLEP

External links:

• Wikipedia: Mission description
• Spacecom: Mission description
• Spaceflight 101: Mission description
• SpaceNews: Change 5 recovering

Astrophilately covers:

Change 5 in orbit around the Moon. Credit: #411a

Change 5 recovery. Credit: #411a

Change 5 recovery helicopter. Credit: #411a