China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe successfully brakes for lunar orbiting

China's Chang'e-5 lunar probe successfully decelerated near the Moon and entered the lunar orbit, the Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced on Saturday.

The administration said in a statement that a 3,000-newton-thrust engine on the spacecraft was activated at 8:58 pm Beijing time and worked about 17 minutes when the probe reached a position about 400 kilometers above the moon.

A key orbital control measure for any lunar mission, the braking operation was conducted to reduce the spacecraft's speed to make sure it can be captured by the moon's gravitational field rather than accidentally flying past the celestial body.

After flying four days towards the Moon, the probe successfully conducted "space braking" and entered an elliptical lunar orbit, said the CNSA.

The braking operation was conducted to reduce the spacecraft's speed to make sure it can be captured by the moon's gravitational field rather than accidentally flying past the celestial body. /CCTV

What's next?

There will be one more braking maneuver needed to be performed by the spacecraft before a successful moon landing.

The first braking is designed to enter an elliptical moon orbit. The probe will then travel for about 24 hours, adjusting the position and making preparation to perform the second braking, which is to enter a circular moon orbit much easier for the landing operation, Meng Zhanfeng, one of the chief designers of the Chang'e-5 explained.

"Weighing 8 tons, the probe is too heavy for the current thrusters to slow down to an exact speed, so the spacecraft has to brake twice," Meng added.

After the second braking, Chang'e-5 lunar probe needs to perform multiple tasks within one week.

Four modules, orbiter, returner, ascender, lander, which consist of the rocket, will work in pairs. The orbiter-returner combo will be responsible for taking the probe to the designated orbit, and the group of ascender-lander will perform the landing operation.

"When landing on the moon surface, the probe will start to collect samples and make preparation for leaving. All of these tasks have to be done within 48 hours," Liu Jiangang, chief of the command team in Beijing said.

Experts said the probe is expected to bring about 2 kilograms of samples back to the Earth, with 1.5 kg of them from the moon surface and the rest from beneath the surface.

(CGTN's Liu Hui, Wu Lei, Gong Zhe, Pan Zhaoyi contributed to the story.)