China’s Chang’e-6 probe successfully lands on the far side of the Moon to collect samples

The landing marks a new milestone in China’s lunar exploration program, in which countries including the United States hope to extract minerals to support stable long-term bases over the next decade.

Equipped with a host of instruments and its own launcher, Chang’e 6 landed in a giant impact crater called the south polar Aitken Basin on the space-facing side of the Moon at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time (midnight). in Spain), according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The mission “involves many engineering innovations, high risks and great challenges,” the agency said on its website. “The payload carried by the Chang’e 6 lander will function as planned and carry out scientific research missions.”

China’s successful mission was the second to the far side of the moon, which no other country has achieved. The side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth is littered with deep, dark craters, making communications and robotic landing operations difficult.

Faced with these challenges, lunar and space experts involved in the Chang’e 6 mission described the landing phase as the time when the likelihood of failure is greatest. “Landing on the far side of the moon is very difficult because you don’t have line of sight, you depend on many links in the chain to control what happens, or you have to automate what happens,” Neil Melville explained. Kenny, a European Space Agency technician working with China on one of the Chang’e 6 payloads.

“Automation is very difficultespecially at high latitudes because there are long shadows that can confuse landers,” Melville added.

Chang’e-6 probe It was released on May 3. on China’s Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan and reached the vicinity of the Moon about a week later before adjusting its orbit to prepare for landing.

Chang’e 6 marks world’s third moon landing this year: Japan’s SLIM lander landed in January, followed by a lander from US startup Intuitive Machines the following month, although its Odysseus lander suffered several failures during landing.

Other countries that have sent spacecraft to Earth’s closest neighbor include the then Soviet Union and India. The United States is the only country to have landed men on the moon since 1969.

Moon sampling

Using a shovel and drill, the Chang’e-6 lander will aim collect 2 kg of lunar material for two days and return it to Earth.

The samples will be transferred to a launch vehicle on top of the lander, which will be launched back into space, connect with another spacecraft in lunar orbit and return. The landing is expected to take place in China’s Inner Mongolia region. June 25.

If all goes according to plan, the mission will provide China with an intact record of the Moon’s 4.5 billion-year history and provide new clues about the formation of the solar system. It will also allow for an unprecedented comparison of the dark, unexplored region with the more explored side of the Moon facing Earth. Scientific milestone.

The Chang’e-6 facility is somewhat similar to what China already did in 2020 with the previous Chang’e-5 mission, only with the added complexity of doing it on the far side of the satellite. Four years ago, China managed to return 2 kg of moon rocks to our planet in the first sample return mission since the Soviet Luna 24 in 1976. The Asian giant is the third country capable of returning lunar samples to our planet. planet, after the USA and Russia (then Soviet Union), and the first to achieve it from the hidden side. China’s lunar strategy includes landing its first astronaut around 2030 in a program of which Russia is a partner.