China Launches Chang'e-6 Mission To Return Samples From The Moon's Far Side

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Chang'e-6 launch — Lift-off: Chang’e-6 will attempt to bring back 2 kg of lunar material from the far side of the Moon (Courtesy: CNSA)

China has successfully launched a mission to bring back sample from the far side of the Moon – the first attempt to do so. Chang’e-6 was launched at 17:27 p.m. local time today by a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island. If the landing is successful, the craft is expected to collect and return to Earth up to two kilograms of soil from an area not previously sampled.

China has made considerable progress in lunar exploration in recent years, which began in 2007 with the launch of the lunar orbiter Chang’e-1.

Since then it has carried out four further uncrewed missions that included Chang’e-4, which in 2019 became the first mission to touch down on the far side of the Moon. That craft landed in the Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin – one of the oldest known impact craters in the Solar System and represents one of the Moon’s most scientifically rich regions.

China’s previous lunar mission was Chang’e-5, which launched in November 2020, and successfully brought back 1.7 kg of samples from the near side of the Moon a month later, the first recovery of lunar samples in 45 years.

Most of the returned samples are stored at the National Astronomical Observatories of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in Beijing, with possible access by foreign scientists through collaboration with Chinese colleagues.

To the dark side

Chang’e-6 was built as a back-up for Chang’e-5, but following the success of that mission Chang’e-6 could be repurposed for its own assignment.

Weighing 8.2 tonnes, Chang’e-6 consists of four parts: an ascender, lander, returner and orbiter. Upon entering orbit around the Moon, the ascender and lander will separate and touch down in the southern part of the Apollo crater, which lies in the northeastern side of the South Pole-Aitkin Basin.

The lander will use a panoramic camera, spectrometer and ground-penetrating radar among other payloads to document the landing site. Chang’e-6 will also carry payloads from France, Italy, Sweden and Pakistan, which includes an instrument to measure surface levels of radon.

Exploring the far side

Within 48 hours after touching down, Chang’e-6 will use a robotic arm to scoop up small rocks from the surface and drill up to 2 m into the ground with the aim to collect about 2 kg of material.

The ascender will lift off from the top of the lander and dock with the returner-orbiter in orbit. The sample container is then transferred to the returner, which will head back to the Earth.

A relay satellite – Queqiao-2 – was launch in March to help communications between Chang’e-6 and ground stations on Earth.

It is hoped that the returned samples will shed light on the early evolution of the Moon given that the far side is not as extensively covered by ancient lava flows as the near side, which helps to preserves materials from the Moon’s early formation. It is also hoped that the results from the mission will provide clues to why the two sides are so different.

China plans two further lunar missions with Chang’e-7 in 2026 that will explore the lunar south pole for water followed by Chang’e-8 in 2028 that will build a rudimentary outpost on the Moon in collaboration with Russia.

China then aims to put astronauts on the Moon by 2030, some four years after the US Artemis crewed mission to the Moon, which is currently planned for September 2026.