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China Launches its Fourth Lunar Mission; Has the `Continued Political Will to Achieve Space Goals`
24 October 2014
Marsha Freeman
(LPAC)—This afternoon, EDT, which was early October 24 in China, the fourth Chinese lunar mission, designated Chang’e-5T (test) was launched from the Xichang launch center. The Chang’e-4 mission had been planned as a repeat the previous In order to bring the Return Module through the atmosphere from a high speed, Chinese engineers will test what they describe as a "skip reentry," by very carefully and precisely dipping the return vehicle in and out of the atmosphere to slow it down, The Chang’e-5T mission Return Vehicle carries a number of samples of organisms into deep space, such as seeds and plants. It will also be the first Chinese lunar mission with a foreign payload on board. The Luxembourg-based company, LUX Space, will have its 4M Radio Experiment on the third stage of the launch rocket, headed to the Moon. The 31-pound experiment will transmit signals from deep space, to engage the amateur radio community in this circumlunar mission. It also carries a tiny instrument to measure the radiation dose on the trans-lunar trip. As is predictable before any Chinese space launch, there is a plethora of stupid remarks by political pundits. To wit: James Lewis, at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, writes in a UK-based blog that there is little economic or military advantage gained from China’s lunar program (!). Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, on the other hand, sees the current robotic lunar missions as a step toward the capabilities China will need for a potential manned lunar program. "Its significance is not only in demonstration of technical abilities," she says, "but in a continued political will to achieve its space goals over long periods of time—that is what China has that the U.S. currently lacks." |