China is set to launch a mission soon to become the first country to bring rocks from the moon to Earth since the 1970s.
China's unmanned space mission Cheng 5 is being launched to the moon this week.
The mission will gather material that could help scientists understand the formation of the moon.
With this machine, China also wants to test its ability to collect samples from space, after which more difficult missions will be launched.
If the mission succeeds, China will be the third country in the world to bring samples from the moon to Earth, as the United States and the Soviet Union have done before.
The United States sent 12 astronauts to the moon between 1969 and 1972 under the Apollo program on six flights that returned with 382 kilograms of rock and surface samples.
The Soviet Union obtained samples through three successful robotic missions in the 1970s.
Through its mission, China wants to collect 2kg of samples from parts of the moon where no one has been able to reach.
This is the part of the moon called the Ocean of Stromes, said James Head, a space scientist at Brown University. It is in a small area.
Through the Cheng 5 mission, various questions such as how long the volcano inside the moon remained active and when the magnetic attraction there ceased.
Once on the moon, the mission will be assisted by 2 vehicles on the surface, a drill lander, and the samples will be transferred to an ascender that will deliver it to the orbit module.
If successful, the samples will be transferred to a return capsule and delivered to the ground.
China first sent a successful mission to the moon in 2013 and the Cheng 4 mission in January 2019, which was also the first mission to the dark side of the moon.
Over the next decade, China plans to build a robotic base station to explore the moon's South Pole.
This work will be completed by Cheng 6, 7 and 8 missions and manned missions will be sent in the 2030s, while China also plans to bring samples from Mars in 2030.
China sent an unmanned mission to Mars in July 2020, its first mission to another planet.
