China’s unmanned Chang’e-6 spacecraft has successfully returned to Earth with the first samples from the moon’s far side, marking a significant milestone in Beijing’s space program.
Using its drill and robotic arm, the probe collected samples of rock and dirt over the course of two days after landing on Sunday in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, one of the moon’s oldest craters.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said that “a Chinese national flag carried by the lander was unfurled for the first time on the far side of the moon” following the successful collection of its samples.
The probe is on its way back, as confirmed by CNSA, with its ascender module having “lifted off from lunar surface” and entered a predetermined orbit around the moon.
The scientific community has praised the development.
According to University of Leicester Professor Martin Barstow, “this is a very important achievement.” The only countries that have successfully returned samples from the moon to Earth are the United States and Russia. It displays a remarkable capacity inside China’s space program. Launching from the moon is a technical achievement in and of itself, but it becomes significantly more difficult when done from its far side.
In agreement was Dr. Romain Tartèse of the University of Manchester. “Thus far, everything is going as planned for Chang’e-6, with the capsule carrying the valuable sample package in route to the lunar orbiter. Every step that brings us closer to returning these samples to Earth is tremendously thrilling,” he remarked.
Since it is invisible from Earth, the far side of the moon is commonly referred to as the “dark side” and is thought to present new study possibilities. The samples that the probe returned with, according to experts, may offer previously unheard-of insights into the origins and development of the moon and the solar system, throw light on the reasons behind the stark differences between the moon’s near and far sides, and hint to how life on Earth first began.
I’m not sure if they intend to share samples with countries other than China, but I hope they do and that we in the UK will get the chance to work on these. Barstow stated, “This would be a perfect fit for our plans for sample return from Mars.
Tartèse said he and his colleagues at Manchester University were also hoping to work on Chang’e-6 samples, noting they were previously involved in an international consortium with colleagues in Beijing to study samples from the near side of the moon returned by China’s earlier lunar mission, Chang’e-5.
“We very much hope we will have the opportunity to repeat this working on Chang’e-6 samples in coming months, as these samples from the lunar farside will likely provide us with key information on how the lunar crust was built, and on the bombardment history of the inner solar system during its first 500m years of evolution,” he said.
The container containing the samples needed to be moved to a re-entry capsule, which was scheduled to return to Earth and land in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region on June 25, scientists cautioned, meaning that the mission was not yet complete.
According to Tartèse, “there are still two extremely nerve-wracking stages left: the ascent vehicle’s docking with the lunar orbiter and the Earth return vehicle’s firing to cause it to leave lunar orbit and return to Earth safely.”
“They have to safely return to Earth orbit, and the mission has to survive re-entry,” stated Barstow. However, everything is going well thus far.
