China Lands Sample Return Probe on the Far Side of the Moon
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission landed on the far side of the Moon this evening Eastern Daylight Time. China is the only country to land on the lunar farside, first with a lander/rover in 2020 and now with this mission that will return samples to Earth.
All the lunar samples we have today are from the near side of the Moon that always faces Earth. Brought back by six Apollo astronaut crews and three Soviet robotic probes in the 1960s and 1970s, and China’s Chang’e-5 in 2020, they are a treasure trove for geologists trying to understand how the Moon and the early solar system formed.
Much less is known about the far side of the Moon that perpetually faces away from us. Until the Space Age, it had never been seen. Orbiting spacecraft, especially NASA’s high resolution Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, have revealed some of its secrets since then, but getting actual samples will be a scientific bonanza.
Launched on May 3 EDT, Chang’e-6 entered orbit around the Moon on May 8 and landed at 6:23 pm EDT today (6:23 am June 2 Beijing Time) according to China’s official news agency Xinhua. The landing site is the Apollo Basin in the South Pole Aitken Basin, a region of strong scientific interest.
China’s Chang’e-6 touched down on the far side of the moon on Sunday morning, and will collect samples from this rarely explored terrain for the first time in human history: China National Space Administration https://t.co/L78mXX9pKO pic.twitter.com/Kdk5u1iGxp
— China Xinhua Sci-Tech (@XHscitech) June 2, 2024
The landing coordinates are estimated to be 153.99 W, 41.64S.
Estimated actual landing coordinates for Chang’e-6: 153.99 W 41.64 S according to @SegerYu https://t.co/5GCLdPo5VB
— Jonathan McDowell (@planet4589) June 2, 2024
The samples are expected to be collected in the next two days using a scoop and a drill. Xinhua did not say when they would get back to Earth. A mini-rover also is aboard the lander. China did not disclose it, but sharp-eyed observers spotted it in a photo.
Yeah, okay. That looks like a previously undisclosed mini rover on the side of the Chang’e-6 lander lol. Via CAST: https://t.co/gS0Jy5L9hw pic.twitter.com/9vvTnribpl
— Andrew Jones (@AJ_FI) May 3, 2024
Chang’e-6 carries four international payloads. A Pakistani cubesat, ICUBE, separated from Chang’e-6 on May 8 and is orbiting the Moon and returning images and other data. The other three are on the lander: Detection of Outgassing RadoN (DORN) from the French space agency CNES, a laser retroreflector (INRRI) from Italy, and Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) from Sweden and the European Space Agency (ESA).
ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher tweeted a video from the China National Space Agency (CNSA) taken by Chang’e-6 as it landed.
Mesmerising footage of Chang’e-6 landing on June 2, 2024. (Cai Jinman, Yang Lu, Li Yi, Jin Fei, Wang Hao, Wang Zhenghong) via https://t.co/k7a4JU3RoT pic.twitter.com/Y64GwyNn1V
— Josef Aschbacher (@AschbacherJosef) June 2, 2024
Communicating with spacecraft on the farside of the Moon requires a relay satellite. China’s Chang’e-4 was the first probe to land on the farside and uses the Queqiao satellite to communicate back to Earth. An advanced version, Queqiao-2, was launched to support Chang’e-6.
This article has been updated.
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