Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

After releasing a test return capsule, the service module is headed for Moon orbit.
Credit: China Space Website

China is prepared to move a spacecraft into lunar orbit next month – the service module involved in the country’s successful circumlunar return capsule test in November.

After the separation of the return capsule that parachuted into Inner Mongolia, the larger service module continued its mission back to the vicinity of the Moon.

Following two key maneuvers it arrived in a Lagrangian Point (L2) in late November.

Now that service module is slated to leave L2 at the beginning of January and head for the Moon, braking into lunar orbit in mid-January.

China’s Chang’e 5 mission is slated for 2017 and will land, collect, and return to Earth lunar samples.
Credit: China Space Website

The orbiter is outfitted with GPS, a high-resolution camera and a star sensor, among other equipment. That camera gear can survey areas where a follow-on Moon mission – Chang’e 5 – is to land, gather lunar surface samples, and then return the specimens to the Earth.

Chang’e 5 is reportedly headed for a 2017 liftoff.

As reported in the state-owned China Daily, Pei Zhaoyu, deputy director of the China National Space Administration said:

“To take maximum advantage of the capacity of the service module to test relevant technologies for Chang’e 5, we are conducting a series of experiments on the service module, including circling the Lagrangian Point L2 and carrying equipment for experiments in orbit.”

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