Chinese lunar probe Chang’e-6 has returned from the far side of the moon with the first-ever samples from the Moon’s unexplored far side. The lunar probe landed in the Inner Mongolian desert on Tuesday, returning from a two-month-long mission which was full of risks.
The samples gathered by Chang’e-6 hold great significance as they could answer key questions about how planets are formed, something that the scientists are eagerly anticipating. This manoeuvre also makes China the first country to land on the dark side of the Moon.
The dark side of the moon of the far side faces away from the earth, and it is particularly difficult to reach there because of the large distance and not-so-friendly terrain filled with craters and uneven surfaces with very few flat spaces to land on.
The Chang’e-6 mission stands as a source of national pride for a country that has intensified its lunar exploration efforts, attracting attention from its competitor, the US. State media captured the moment officials proudly planted the Chinese flag shortly after the Chang’e-6 capsule touched down in Inner Mongolia’s desert. President Xi Jinping of China phoned to offer congratulations to those overseeing the Chang’e-6 mission at the command centre.
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Mr Xi said he hopes they can carry on exploring deep space and “reaching new heights in unravelling the mysteries of the universe… to benefit humanity and advance the nation”.
The mission lasted 53 days from May when Chang’e blasted off into space and was successful in landing at a crater near the south pole of the Moon. The probe is set to go to Beijing and samples will be retrieved there. This would mark China’s sixth mission to the moon and second one to the far side. The name of the probe is inspired by the Moon Goddess Chang’e prevalent in Chinese mythology.
The probe utilized a drill and robotic arm to gather soil and rocks, captured images of the surface and ceremonially planted a Chinese flag. Catherine Heymans, the astronomer royal for Scotland, expressed optimism that the samples would contribute to testing theories about the Moon’s formation 4.5 billion years ago, including the hypothesis that it arose from a collision involving an early form of Earth.
“It’s incredibly exciting to see this landing successfully,” she told the BBC. “The geological activity on the Moon is very different on the near side and the far side and it’s been a big puzzle why we see those differences.”
She also anticipates that the material gathered from the Moon will help in understanding the composition of the Moon’s core. “Is it very similar to the Earth? Can that confirm our theory that the Earth and the Moon were once the same thing?”
Over the last decade, Beijing has invested heavily in its space program to narrow the gap between the US and Russia. By 2030, China intends to launch a manned mission to the Moon and has ambitions to establish a base at the lunar south pole in the future. Similarly, the US aims to return astronauts to the Moon by 2026 through its Artemis 3 mission.
