China successfully landed a lunar lander on the far side of the moon on Sunday morning, the China National Space Administration announced, bringing the mission one step closer to bringing back the first sample from a part of the moon that Earthlings have never seen.
The China National Space Administration said in a statement that the Chang’e-6 unmanned probe landed in the lunar South Pole-Aitken Basin at 6:23 a.m.
The agency released footage from its landing camera as the probe touched down. In the film, as the lander descends, the cratered lunar surface gets closer and closer.
Chang’e 6, named after the Chinese moon goddess, is the second mission to land on the far side of the moon. Its predecessor, Chang’e 4, made history in 2019.
The far side of the moon is different from the near side, where the United States, China and the then-Soviet Union all collected samples. It has a thicker crust, more craters, and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. It’s unclear why the two sides of the moon are so different. Samples collected by Chang’e 6 may provide some clues.
The Antarctic-Aitkin Basin is a massive crater about 1,600 miles across, one of the largest in the history of the solar system, and the impact that created it is thought to have scooped material from the lunar mantle. If these materials can be recovered, it could help scientists better understand the history of the moon’s interior.
China is the only country so far to launch missions to the far side of the moon, as part of its growing space ambitions in an increasingly competitive global environment. The country has successfully launched missions to Mars and plans to visit asteroids in the future. It also plans to put a man on the moon by 2030, which would make it the second country after the United States to achieve this goal.
Chang’e-6 is the third mission to land on the moon this year. Japan’s smart lunar lander landed on the lunar surface in January, becoming the fifth country in the world to reach the lunar surface. Odysseus, a privately operated spacecraft built by Houston-based Intuitive Machines, landed in February.
Chang’e-6 launched on May 3 from the Wenchang Space Base on Hainan Island in southern China. The China Space Administration said it arrived on the moon on May 8 and orbited on the moon for several weeks before landing. The agency said the descent took about 14 minutes, with the rover using cameras and 3D laser scanning to avoid obstacles as it landed.
The agency said the probe will collect samples for about two days, collecting rocks and soil from the lunar surface and deep into the ground to collect subsurface samples.
It will then spend several weeks in lunar orbit in preparation for its five-day return trip to Earth. The complete mission is expected to take approximately 53 days, according to the agency.
Missions on the far side of the moon are complicated because it is impossible to establish communications directly with detectors there.
In 2018, China sent the Queqiao satellite into lunar orbit to relay Chang’e-4 messages to the Earth. In March this year, it launched its second satellite. The two satellites will be used in tandem to maintain contact while Chang’e-6 collects samples.
Zixu Wang Contributed reporting.
