China News Agency, Beijing, December 17 (Guo Chaokai, Liang Xiaohui) On December 17, the Chang'e-5 probe returned to Earth after completing automatic lunar sampling and successfully landed at the Siziwang Banner Landing Field in Inner Mongolia.

Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center and spokesperson for the Chang'e 5 mission, said in an exclusive interview with China News Agency that the "space express" brought back by the Chang'e 5 probe must first Under the earth environment, scientists at home and abroad can carry out research under the premise of complying with the regulations of sample management; this lunar sample will be stored in two places in a safe manner to ensure the safety of the sample.

Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the China National Space Administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, deputy chief designer of the third phase of the lunar exploration project, and spokesperson for the Chang'e 5 mission, accepted an exclusive interview with China News Agency "China Focus Face to Face".

Photo by China News Agency reporter Sheng Jiapeng

  "First, unsealing. The sample container is encapsulated in a vacuum. After entering the earth, it must be operated in the environment of the earth, which is different from ordinary cans." Pei Zhaoyu said, after unsealing, the sample must be separated. , And then perform basic characteristics, physical and chemical characteristics test; then sample registration, and establish a file for each sample.

  He emphasized that from the perspective of scientific research, China will formulate a sample management method to make specific regulations on how samples are managed and how they are distributed and used.

Samples are important basic materials for scientific research. On the one hand, domestic scientists will be organized to conduct research on samples, and foreign scientists are also welcome to conduct sample research.

"We did not propose country-specific restrictions and encourage scientists to conduct sample research cooperation." Pei Zhaoyu said.

At 1:59 on December 17, Beijing time, the Chang'e-5 returner successfully landed in the planned area of ​​Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, marking the successful completion of China's first mission to sample and return extraterrestrial objects.

Photography: Wang Jiangbo

  Regarding the storage of lunar samples, Pei Zhaoyu said that considering that lunar samples are very precious, there should be a safe way to ensure the safety of the samples.

The lunar samples will be stored in two places, one in Beijing, because this is the location of the ground application system, responsible for sample processing, preservation, and management.

Another place should play the role of remote disaster recovery backup, so choose a place with better geological conditions. Scientists think Hunan is more suitable.

  In this mission, the Chang'e-5 probe completed automatic lunar surface sampling in only 19 hours, which was much smoother than expected.

Pei Zhaoyu said that at first, scientists thought that the surface of the Chang'e 5 landing site was a bit like the landform at the junction of the desert and the Gobi. Originally, they thought that the moon surface was relatively hard, but later they used surface sampling methods to sample and found that it was better. Save it.

  Pei Zhaoyu said that although the sampling only took 19 hours, Chang'e 5 used the time saved to carry out other tasks, such as the display of the national flag, the second full detection of the payload, and preparations for ascent. I stayed for 8 hours and now it seems more calm."

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