China’s most sophisticated and challenging space adventure – the Chang’e 5 robotic lunar mission – ended successfully in the early morning of December 17, 2020 with its load of rocks and dust from the moon landing on the grasslands in northern China.
The successful landing marked the completion of the historic 23-day Chang’e 5 expedition, the first in more than 40 years, to bring lunar samples back to Earth, also making China the third country to achieve this feat after the United States and the former Soviet Union. As China’s most complicated space project, the Chang’e-5 mission has achieved the extraterrestrial sampling and return for the first time. It is a major achievement marking a great step forward in China’s space technology and research. This will contribute to deepening our understanding of the origin of the moon and the evolutionary history of the solar system.
As an important step of the reentry and landing, an off-road vehicle equipped with a PALFINGER PK19000 escorted the recovery team under extreme cold weather conditions. With precise operations and excellent stability, the PALFINGER PK19000 successfully ensured the recovery of the reentry capsule, and completed the final key step of the comprehensive victory of the lunar exploration project.
The PALFINGER PK cranes have been serving the Chinese aerospace industry since 2003 starting from Shenzhou No. 5 to Shenzhou No. 12. From the new generation of manned spacecraft to Chang’e-5, PALFINGER has always provided excellent lifting solutions to China’s aerospace industry. With outstanding completion of each recovery task, PALFINGER becomes a prominent supporter of China’s aerospace industry.
Reliability, stability , convenience, and fast operation of the equipment under special and extreme environment conditions is the key to the project. In the snowy night of – 30° C, the long-distance and harsh conditions, are the challenges to the “operational quality” of the lifting equipment. The PALFINGER PK19000 performs exceptionally and is highly suitable for the role in this situation.