China’s Chang’e-6 blasts off on mission to fetch first rock samples from far side of the moon
- Chinese spacecraft begins 53-day journey to collect soil and rocks and bring them back to Earth for study
- It will also transport equipment from international scientists to test lunar atmosphere and carry out imaging
China has launched a historic mission to return the first samples from the far side of the moon.
The rocket’s second stage separated 37 minutes after launch, sending Chang’e-6 into a predetermined Earth-moon transfer orbit, according to CNSA.
The mission was declared a success by launch site commander Zhang Zuosheng just under an hour and a half after its launch.
“The Chang’e-6 probe has accurately entered the preset orbit and the solar panels have unfolded successfully and are functioning well,” Zhang said.
The mission’s goal is to collect 2kg (4.4lbs) of soil and rocks from the landing site and bring them back to Earth for detailed analysis.
“Chang’e-6 is basically a repeat of Chang’e-5. The only added difficulty is the communications link to the far side,” said Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard astronomer who tracks rocket launches and space activities.
“And that appears to be well in hand with the Queqiao-2 relay satellite in place,” McDowell said.
Like its predecessor, Chang’e-6 consists of four components: an orbiter, lander, ascender and re-entry module.
After the spacecraft arrives at the moon, it will separate into two parts. The lander and ascender will head for the lunar surface, while the orbiter and the re-entry module remain in orbit.
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China’s Chang’e 6 launches historic mission to collect first rock samples from far side of the moon
The lander and ascender will touch down in the northeastern part of the SPA basin, an area with complex geology and high scientific value. After the samples are collected, the ascender will lift off, return to the lunar orbit, and transfer the samples to the re-entry module for the trip back home.
In a paper published in Nature Astronomy last year, a team led by Chinese scientists identified three potential landing regions for Chang’e-6 inside the SPA basin – a huge hole measuring 2,500km (1,553 miles) wide and 8km deep that formed after an asteroid hit the nascent moon billions of years ago.
According to remote sensing data, the regions vary in age and chemical composition. The spacecraft will choose the safest place to touch down during descent.
Chang’e-6 is likely to find and bring back basalts – dark-coloured cooled lava that flooded parts of the basin after volcanic eruptions.
Scientists will be able to accurately measure their age, composition, and how they formed. By comparing them with rocks returned from the near side of the moon, scientists might find clues about why the two lunar hemispheres are so different.
Ross Mitchell, a geophysicist from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing, said each potential landing spot has its own appeal.
The Chinese scientists had identified several “safe and scientifically intriguing” sites for the mission, he said.
“Knowledge of the far side of the moon is critical, particularly because the moon is ‘two faced’ – the near side and far side are strikingly distinct, so it’s literally a whole new world over there.”
Mitchell pointed out that while the near side is flooded with young lava flows featuring fewer craters, the far side has preserved a pimply terrain made up of many ancient craters covered by fewer young lava deposits.
Knowledge of the far side of the moon is critical, particularly because the moon is ‘two faced’ – the near side and far side are strikingly distinct, so it’s literally a whole new world over there.
Chang’e-6 will also transport scientific instruments built by international researchers.
These include the Detection of Outgassing RadoN (DORN), which will be the first French scientific device on the moon. It will use the radioactive gas radon as a tracer to study the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.
The spacecraft will also carry the Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface, or NILS, which was built by Sweden scientists with support from the European Space Agency to study how solar wind affects the electrostatic environment on the lunar surface.
Additionally, Chang’e-6 will carry a laser retroflector from Italy and Pakistan’s CubeSat, which will separate from the orbiter and carry out imaging and other tasks on its own in the lunar orbit.
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CNSA said previously that it planned to share the Chang’e-6 samples with the international community, as it is doing with samples from the Chang’e-5 mission.
“Years ago it would have seemed like a moon shot for China to become a world leader in lunar research, but now it’s actually happening,” Mitchell said.
“Only once in a blue moon do we get the opportunity to have samples returned from the moon, and it appears to be happening again soon. My colleagues and I are absolutely ‘over the moon’ to potentially have the opportunity to have more samples to work with soon.”
Compared with the 23-day trip carried out by its predecessor, the voyage of Chang’e-6 will be much longer, spending considerably more time in lunar orbit before touchdown.
Chang’e-6 is expected to reach the moon next Tuesday. Landing and sampling are estimated to take place around June 6 to 8, while the samples are expected to arrive on Earth around June 25.
Additional reporting by Victoria Bela
