A robot space mission has successfully brought samples of rocks and soil from the Moon back to Earth for the first time since the 1970s. The capsule from China’s Chang’e mission landed in Inner Mongolia in December 2020, carrying with it around two kilograms of Moon material.
The unmanned Chang’e-5 spacecraft was launched in November 2020. After a 250,000-mile journey to the Moon, it entered orbit and released a small landing vehicle that fell towards the surface. Using rockets to slow its speed, the lander made a soft landing on a 1,300-metre volcanic hill called Mons Rumker, in an area called the Ocean of Storms.
The lander used a scoop (铲) and a drill fitted to a robot arm to tunnel two meters into the ground, collecting samples of rock and soil. It then blasted off from the surface, returned to the main spacecraft and automatically transferred its samples, ready for the journey back to Earth.
This is the first time in nearly 45 years that a spacecraft has got Moon rocks back. Most of the Moon material we have on Earth was brought back by astronauts during the US Apollo missions of the late 1960s and early 1970s. A little more came with robot landers from the Soviet Union (a country composed of Russia and its nearby neighbors) around the same time. The new samples are thought to be around 1.3 billion years old and have been taken to China’s capital, Beijing, for study. It’s hoped that they will allow scientists to work out more accurately the age of the Moon and other solar system objects. Xiao Long, an expert in space rocks at China’s University of Geosciences, said that the samples could “rewrite the history of the Moon”.
19. What landed on the moon and brought the moon rocks back?
A.A lander. | B.A rocket. | C.A spacecraft | D.A capsule |
20. What does the underlined words “blast off” in paragraph 3 mean?
A.Break off. | B.Take off. | C.Turn off. | D.Get off. |
21. How many times have human beings brought moon rocks back?
A.Once. | B.Twice. | C.Three times. | D.Four times. |
22. What is the possible function of the new samples of rock and soil?
A.To change the history of the Moon. | B.To find more solar system objects. |
C.To work out the age of the Moon more accurately. | D.To make comparison with the previous samples. |