A Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Sunday with the aim of collecting soil and rock samples to provide valuable insights into the differences between this less-explored region and the more familiar near side.
The landing module touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin crater at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time, as reported by the China National Space Administration.
This mission is part of the Chang’e lunar probe program, China’s sixth lunar exploration endeavor named after the moon goddess. It is the second mission specifically designed to retrieve samples from the lunar near-surface, following the Chang’e-5 mission in 2020.
China has ambitious space exploration goals, including a plan to put humans on the moon by 2030, aiming to become the second country to accomplish this feat after the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. also has plans to land astronauts on the moon in the coming years, with NASA targeting 2026 as the new goal.
In the current Chinese mission, the lander is equipped with a mechanical arm and drill to gather up to 4.4 pounds of surface and subsurface materials over a two-day period. These samples will be transferred to an orbiting module, and eventually returned to Earth around June 25 via a re-entry capsule landing in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
Exploring the far side of the moon presents unique challenges, including communication difficulties due to the lack of direct line of sight with Earth and the rugged terrain that offers fewer suitable landing spots.
Source: www.nbcnews.com
