China claims that its unmanned spacecraft has made a successful landing on the Moon’s far side, an area that is largely uncharted and rarely visited.
The Chang’e 6 landed at the South Pole-Aitken Basin on Sunday morning at 06:23 Beijing time, or 22:23 GMT on Saturday, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The project, which was launched on May 3, is to gather priceless rock and soil from this area for the first time ever.
From a massive crater near the Moon’s South Pole, the probe might retrieve some of the planet’s oldest rocks.
Because it is extremely difficult to communicate with spacecraft once they reach the far side of the Moon, the landing was extremely risky. With its Chang’e-4 landing in 2019, China is the only nation to have previously accomplished the feat.
Chang’e 6, which had taken off from Wenchang Space Launch Center, has been circling the Moon in preparation for its landing.
After detaching from the orbiter, the mission’s lander component touched down on the side of the Moon that faces Earth permanently.
According to the CNSA, which was cited by the state-run Xinhua news agency, an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system was used to automatically detect obstacles during the descent. A visible light camera then selected a relatively safe landing area based on the brightness and darkness of the lunar surface.
Before making a gradual vertical descent, the lander used a laser 3D scanner while hovering around 100 meters (328 feet) above the safe landing place.
The CNSA stated that the Queqiao-2 relay satellite provided support for the operation.
The successful landing was hailed as a “historic moment” by Chinese official media.
Applause broke out at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center after the Chang’e landing craft made its lunar landing early on Sunday morning, according to the official state broadcaster.
Gathering resources from the surface should take the lander up to three days, according to the CNSA, who stated that the process would need “many engineering innovations, high risks, and great difficulty.”
According to University of Manchester lunar geology expert Professor John Pernet-Fisher, “everyone is very excited that we might get a look at these rocks no-one has ever seen before.”
He has examined additional lunar rock recovered from earlier Chinese and American space flights, including the Apollo program.
However, he claims that the opportunity to examine rock from an entirely new region of the Moon may provide crucial answers regarding the formation of planets.
Like what we could find in Iceland or Hawaii, the majority of the rocks that have been collected thus far are volcanic.
However, the chemistry of the material on the other side would be different.
“It would help us answer those really big questions, like how are planets formed, why do crusts form, what is the origin of water in the solar system?” explains the instructor.
According to the CNSA, the mission’s objective is to gather roughly 2 kg (4.4 lb) of material using a drill and mechanical arm.
One of the largest impact craters in the solar system is the South Pole–Aitken basin.
According to Prof. Pernet-Fisher, the probe might then collect material originating from the inner core of the moon, or deep within the lunar mantle.
The next frontier for lunar missions is the Moon’s South Pole, which nations are eager to explore because they believe it may contain ice.
The likelihood of successfully establishing a human base for scientific inquiry on the Moon would be greatly increased if water was available.
The craft will return to Earth carrying the priceless samples in a special return capsule if the mission is successful.
To preserve the substance as pure as possible, unique circumstances will be maintained.
Prior to researchers from all over the world being able to apply, scientists in China will get the first opportunity to analyze the rocks.
China has launched a mission to gather samples from the Moon twice before.
2020 saw Chang’e 5 return with 1.7 kg of material from the near-side Oceanus Procellarum region of the Moon.
In an effort to find water on the Moon and explore the possibility of establishing a permanent base there, China has scheduled three additional unmanned flights for this decade.
By around 2030, Beijing hopes to have a Chinese astronaut set foot on the moon as part of a larger plan.
With NASA planning to launch its Artemis 3 mission in 2026, the US also hopes to return humans to the moon.
