China managed to land a new probe on the far side of the Moon | The science

China, which plans to send taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) to the moon before 2030, has taken another giant step in the development of its ambitious space exploration program through which it aims to become the dominant power in space. Probe Chang’e 6 On Sunday, it successfully landed in the Aitken Basin at the moon’s south pole, an unexplored area with unique geological characteristics. It is the country’s most complex robotic lunar mission to date, aiming to bring back to Earth for the first time in history samples from the hidden side of the Moon that could shed light on the origins and evolution of our satellite, as well as the solar system, according to Chinese scientists. The Asian giant conquered the least visible part of the Moon from our planet in January 2019, a feat that no other nation has duplicated.

Probe Chang’e 6 It consists of four modules responsible for four functions: orbit around the satellite, landing on the Moon, takeoff from the Moon and return to Earth. The robotic ship was launched on May 3 aboard a rocket. Long March 5 from the Wenchang space base on the Chinese tropical island of Hainan. Five days later it entered lunar orbit, and on May 30, the landing and ascent modules separated from the integrated orbiter and reentry system.

According to the National Space Administration of China, the lunar landing maneuver was successfully carried out on June 3 at 06:23 local time (00:23 Spanish Peninsula time). The mechanized descent was accomplished in 15 minutes and involved “many engineering innovations” as well as “high risks and great difficulties,” the space agency noted. During the descent, an autonomous obstacle avoidance system was used, which relies on the illumination and darkness of the surface itself to detect them.

The technical complexity of the mission is aggravated by its location, since the far side of the Moon is not in direct contact with the Earth. Most of the process is automated, but Chang’e 6 also depends on the communications relay satellite Queqiao 2launched in March and currently in lunar orbit.

The Aitken Basin at the moon’s south pole, about 2,500 kilometers in diameter, formed about 4 billion years ago and is believed to contain frozen water, a resource that could be key for manned missions. The lunar depression consists of numerous deep, dark craters, making it difficult for the spacecraft to maneuver and contact Earth. Hence the high probability of failure.

Explorer rover Chang’e 6 It landed precisely in the Apollo impact crater with a diameter of about 520 kilometers. There he plans to spend two days drilling into the lunar soil with a drill and collecting about two kilograms of rocks and dust from the surface and below the surface with a robotic arm. The sampling will take a total of 14 hours, according to state news agency Xinhua. This is eight hours less than Chang’e 5 collected 1731 grams of cargo from the visible side of the Moon.

The Chinese space agency notes that the ship Chang’e 6 It is much smarter than its predecessor and can carry out and make more decisions autonomously, reducing the need to interact with Earth. In fact, it is expected to receive about 400 instructions from our planet, which is less than half of those received Chang’e 5 in 2020.

Besides Chinese sample collection technology, the lunar lander is also equipped with several international instruments: a lunar surface ion analyzer sent by the European Space Agency, a French detection instrument, an Italian laser angle reflector and a Pakistani CubeSat nanosatellite.

Origin of the Solar System

“This mission is necessary for people to deepen the study of the origin and evolution of the moon, planetary evolution and the origin of the solar system,” Hu Zhenyu, chief engineer of the China Lunar Exploration Program, said in an interview on state television. CABLE TV. In turn, Wang Chi, an experienced scientist and project leader, emphasized that the goal of the mission is to expand our knowledge of the history of our satellite. Most stones that accomplish the mission Chang’e 5 The closer regions of the Moon contain volcanic rocks similar to what we might find in Iceland.

After collecting the materials, they will be launched into lunar orbit using the take-off module, the task of which will also be to carry out precise docking with the lunar orbiter and transport cargo. The samples will then be transferred to the module’s return capsule, which will be launched just before the orbiter reaches Earth.

The probe is expected to land on June 25 in China’s northern Inner Mongolia province. The total round trip will take a total of 53 days, more than twice as long as Change 5. The samples will be analyzed in a laboratory in Beijing, and later researchers from other countries will also be able to request access to study lunar rocks, as happened in the previous mission, after which small quantities of samples were distributed to various institutions. .

Beijing is determined to strengthen its presence in space and has for years invested billions of euros in its space exploration projects, which it sees as the core of its plan to become a great economic and diplomatic power. Program Change, engaged in the study of our satellite, is named after the goddess who, according to Chinese tradition, lives on the Moon. The first mission of this project was launched in 2007 and has achieved great success over the past five years. Chang’e 4 It was the first probe capable of successfully landing on the far side of the Moon. He did this in 2019. A year later from Chang’e 5China has become the third country capable of transporting lunar material, something only the United States and the Soviet Union had achieved so far in missions launched in the 1960s and 1970s; the last of these, the Soviet Luna 24, was built in 1976.

But the Asian giant is aiming for much more. It is planned to launch in 2026 Chang’e 7 explore the resources of the moon’s south pole, and two years later Chang’e 8 will fly out on a mission to check how to use these resources on the spot. For this purpose, a structure will be built from regolith and lunar rocks. The ultimate goal is to send its first taikonaut to the moon around 2030, although the company also plans to build a permanent research station at the south pole.

China’s ambitions in the universe don’t stop at the moon. Its sky exploration program has accelerated over the past three years with the construction of its own space station. Tiangongliterally “Sky Palace”, which she completed in 2022. A year earlier, it became the third country (also after the United States and the former Soviet Union) to leave its mark on Mars with a probe. Tianwen-1 (“Questions to the Sky”), which successfully landed in the northern hemisphere of the Red Planet. Thus, China became the first country that managed to reach Mars on its first attempt, enter its orbit and land on it.

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