The re-entry module of the Chang'e-6 lunar exploration mission landed on Tuesday, June 25, in Siziwang Administrative Region in Inner Mongolia, north China.
China thus became the first country to collect samples from the far side of the moon and return them to Earth in a historic achievement for Beijing's space program.
According to the China National Space Administration, the return vehicle loaded with the precious cargo landed in the precisely designated area in Sitsihuang in the Inner Mongolia region of northern China, and Chang'e-6 thus successfully completed its historic mission.
The Chang'e-6 mission, named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, launched from Hainan Province in southern China on May 3 and landed on June 2 on the far side of the moon that has never been seen from Earth.
The Moon shows only one side to the Earth because it is tidally locked, meaning the same side of the Moon is constantly facing our planet.
The mission's lander spent two days collecting rocks and soil from one of the oldest and largest impact craters on the Moon, the South Pole-Aitken Basin, which has a diameter of 2,500 km and a depth of 13 km, using a robotic arm. Its ascent module then lifted off from the lunar surface and rendezvoused with the orbiter before embarking on its journey to Earth.
Martin Barstow, professor of astrophysics and space science at the University of Leicester, said: “This is a great achievement for China. Recovering any samples from the moon is difficult, but doing so from the far side, where communications are particularly difficult, is a step that no other agency has taken.” Real technology.
The latest samples could shed light on long-standing mysteries about the early history of the Moon and Earth.
Ian Crawford, professor of planetary science at Birkbeck, University of London, said locating the Aitken Basin was a "key goal" for lunar science because it would determine the time frame of lunar craters.
He added that understanding the rate at which large asteroids hit the Moon in its early history would shed light on the history of Earth's impact, as our planet was subjected to collisions with the same types of asteroids at the same time.
The far side of the Moon has fewer ancient lava plains (or lunar seas), a thicker crust, and because it is not protected by Earth, it contains more craters from violent collisions.
It is worth noting that China has more lunar missions planned this decade. These projects aim to pave the way for the establishment of an international base for lunar research, which will be co-led with the Russian Roscosmos agency, and the final landing of a Chinese astronaut on the surface of the moon.
Dr Simon Barber, a senior research fellow at the Open University, said: “We are entering a new era of discovery, and having samples returned from the far side is a landmark achievement that will help us understand the geological history in that area, and why it differs so markedly from the near side.”
He continued: “Specialized laboratories around the world have spent five decades perfecting analytical techniques to extract the moon’s secrets from nearby samples returned by the Apollo and Luna missions. And now we are on the cusp of applying all this expertise to learn about the mysterious far side of our closest neighbor in space.” .
Wow! Amazing!
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