Statio Tianchuan: China's Official Chang'e 5 Moon Landing Site Has 7 Topographical Features

The Chang'e 5 moon sample and return mission's landing location have been given a name. It's now officially named Statio Tianchuan.

Statio Tranquillitatis, NASA's Apollo 11 landing site, and Statio Tianhe, China's Chang'e 4 landing site on the far side of the moon, are both named after the Latin word for "post or station." Tianchuan is the name of a Chinese constellation that means "ship travelling over the Milky Way." In the eastern portion of the constellation Perseus, Tianchuan is made up of nine brilliant stars.

Chang'e 5 Landing Site: What is Known About Statio Tianchuan

According to Space.com, officials authorized Chang'e 5's landing location designation in May. The International Astronomical Union gave its permission (IAU). The International Astronomical Union (IAU) is in charge of naming space features as well as those found on solar system worlds.

Near the landing site, seven topographical features have been discovered and named, along with Station Tianchuan. Mons Hua, Mons Heng, Pei Xiu, Shen Kuo, Liu Hui, Song Yingxing, and Xu Guangqi are the names given to these features.

The peaks of Mons Hua and Mons Heng stand out among the lunar craters, which are named after Chinese scientists and mathematicians.

Chang'e 5 Mission: What Is It?

On December 1, 2020, the Chang'e 5 landed on the moon with the goal of collecting lunar material samples, which were returned to Earth on December 16. The Chang'e 5 sampled the moon for the first time in 44 years.

Xinhua News classified the moon trip as "one of the most complicated and challenging missions in China's aerospace history." Meanwhile, Elon Musk called the Chang'e 5 "exciting."

The SpaceX CEO is full of optimism and awe, describing China's launch as an "exciting" achievement and one of the Asian country's most challenging missions in aerospace history.

Chang'e 5 Lunar Samples: What Scientists Know So Far

Scientists will evaluate the samples taken by the Chang'e 5 from the moon, according to the same Space.com report. Some of the samples have been loaned to Chinese institutions, and others are being considered for loan to international organizations.

Scientists who have previously analyzed the samples have concluded that planting on the moon is implausible.

When Will Chang'e 6 Mission Launch?

China is planning to deploy a comparable spacecraft to collect material from the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) region on the moon's far side as a follow-up to its daring Chang'e 5 lunar sample return mission. According to another Space.com article, China will make a more challenging sampling effort on the far side of the moon in 2024.

The SKA basin is described as a huge, ancient impact crater around 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers) in diameter that covers nearly a quarter of the moon's far side.

Hu Hao, mission's chief engineer, said in a statement that the Chang'e 6 mission, which consists of an orbiter, lander, lunar ascent vehicle, and reentry capsule, was launched on China's national space day in April this year of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center.

The Chang'e 6 mission will carry a variety of multinational payloads. The element radon and its outgasses from the lunar regolith will be studied using a DORN detection equipment, which France will deliver.

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