by China’s lunar module Chang’e-6 returned to Earth on Tuesday, successfully completing its historic mission to collect the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon in a major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.
The re-entry module “landed successfully” in a designated zone in northern China’s Central Mongolia region just after 2 pm local time, according to state broadcaster CCTV. A live stream carried by CCTV showed the module descending via parachute to a round of applause in the mission control room.
“The Chang’e-6 lunar exploration mission was a great success,” Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), said from the control room.
A search team found the module minutes after it landed, according to CCTV. The live stream showed a worker carrying out checks on the module, which was located on grassy land next to the Chinese flag.
The successful mission is an important milestone in China’s “eternal dream” – as expressed by Chinese leader Xi Jinping – to establish the country as a major space power and comes as several countries, including the United States, their moons rise too. exploration programs.
In a congratulatory message on Tuesday, Xi hailed the mission as “another significant achievement in building a strong country in space, and in science and technology.”
Beijing plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and build a research base at the lunar south pole – a region believed to contain water ice, where the US also hopes to establish a base.
The Chang’e-6 probe is expected to have returned to Earth with up to 2 kilograms of lunar dust and rocks from the far side of the moon, which will be analyzed by researchers in China before being opened for access by international scientists, according to the CNSA.
Results from the analysis of the samples could help scientists trace the evolution of the moon, the universe and the solar system – and at the same time help China’s aim to use resources on the moon for further exploration, according to experts.
The samples were collected using a drill and a robotic arm from a site within the sprawling South Pole-Aitken basin, an impact crater formed about 4 billion years ago on the side of the moon, which has never been seen on Earth.
An ascender then took them off the surface of the moon and transferred them in lunar orbit to a reentry vehicle, which traveled back to Earth after separation from their lunar orbit.
The progress of Chang’e-6 – China’s most technologically complex mission to date – has been followed with great interest in the country since its launch on May 3.
Earlier this month, images of the lunar lander displaying the Chinese flag and appearing to have drilled the character “zhong” – short for China – into the lunar surface surfaced on Chinese social media.
The return of the lunar module on Tuesday also comes after suspected debris from a separate Chinese rocket was seen falling to the ground in southwest China on Saturday, leaving a trail of bright yellow smoke and sending villagers running, according to video on Chinese social media and launched. to CNN by a local witness.
‘Treasure’ from beyond
The far side of the moon has fascinated scientists since they first saw it in stark, black and white images captured by the Soviet Union’s Luna 3 spacecraft in 1959 – and realized how different it was from the side facing the Earth.
Absent were lunar maria, or large, dark plains of cooled lava that mark much of the moon’s side. Instead, there appeared to be a record of impact on the far side — covered with craters of varying sizes and ages.
Ten years on, and five years since the Chang’e-4 mission made China the first and only country to make a soft landing on the far side, scientists from Both China and the world regarding the information that can be found. from the examples.
“It’s a gold mine … a treasure chest,” said James Head, professor of planetary geosciences at Brown University, who collaborated with European and Chinese scientists analyzing samples from the Chang’e-5 mission. close examples back. . “International scientists are excited about the mission,” he said.
Attention to the destruction of many clues of evolutionary history due to the transfer of the Earth’s plate tectonics and erosion that obscures the planet’s first several billion years, including the period when life emerged.
“The moon is really the keystone to understanding, because there is no plate tectonics on its surface – it’s a frozen record of what was in our early solar system,” he said, adding that it is impossible to understand on the composition of the moon help us only. understanding the past but exploring the solar system in the future.
While the stated focus of the Chang’e-6 mission is these broader scientific questions, experts say analysis of the samples’ composition and physical properties could also aid efforts to learn how to use resources on the moon for lunar and space exploration. in the future. .
“The (Chang’e-6) mission is aimed at answering specific scientific questions, but the lunar soils collected from the mission can support future resource use,” said Yuqi Qian, a planetary geologist at the University of Hong Kong.
Lunar soil could be used for 3-D printing to produce bricks to build research bases on the moon, and some scientists were already working on more economical and practical technologies to find gases such as Helium-3, oxygen and extracting hydrogen from the soil, which could support further lunar exploration, he said.
Once they receive the samples, Chinese scientists are expected to share data and conduct joint research with international partners, before Beijing opens the samples for access by international teams, according to a statement from CNSA officials.
International teams had to wait about three years to apply for access to samples from the Chang’e-5 mission, but some of the earliest published research on those samples came from Chinese and international teams of scientists.
‘Race’ to the moon
Chang’e-6 – the sixth of eight scheduled missions in the Chang’e series – is widely seen as an important step forward in China’s goal of putting astronauts on the moon in the coming years.
“Each step in the sample return mission process is exactly what you need to do to land people on the moon and return,” Head said. “No one should be misled that, while this is a scientific mission, on the one hand, the command and control elements are exactly what is required for human lunar exploration as well as things like Mars sample return. “
China’s ambitions to send astronauts to the moon come as the United States aims to launch a manned “Artemis” mission as soon as 2026 – which would be America’s first such attempt in more than 50 years.
NASA chief Bill Nelson appears to be pointing to China’s speed as a driver of US progress, telling lawmakers in April that the two countries were “really … in a race .”
“My concern is that they go (to the south pole) first and then say, ‘this is our area, you stay out,’ because the south pole of the moon is an important part … I think we know there’s water and if there’s water, then there’s rocket fuel,” said Nelson.
China has sought to allay concerns about its ambitions, reiterating its position that space exploration should “benefit mankind” and actively recruiting country partners for its proposed international lunar research station.
China and the United States are not alone in eyeing the national prestige, potential scientific benefits, access to resources and further deep space exploration that successful lunar missions could bring.
Last year, India landed its first spacecraft on the moon, while Russia’s first lunar mission in years ended when its Luna 25 probe crashed into the lunar surface.
In January, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, although its Moon Sniper lander experienced power problems due to an incorrect landing angle. The following month, IM-1, a NASA-funded mission designed by the Texas-based private firm Intuitive Machines, touched down near the moon’s south pole.
China is scheduled to launch its Chang’e-7 mission to the lunar south pole region in 2026, and Chang’e-8 will be launched in 2028 to conduct tests aimed at using lunar resources in preparation for the lunar research station, authorities said. the Chinese space earlier this year.
This story has been updated with additional developments.
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