China is launching its second lander to the far reaches of the moon. If successful, this would be the first mission in history to bring back samples from a part of the moon that Earth has never seen.
Unlike Earth, whose eroded and shifting crust continually renews the surface, the moon remains frozen over time. Scientists hope collecting material from the far side will reveal information about the origin and evolution of the Earth-moon system.
The mission is called Chang’e-6, named after the Chinese moon goddess and pronounced “changa.”
When will Chang’e-6 come out and how can I watch it?
Chang’e-6 is scheduled to launch Friday at 5:27 a.m. Eastern time from the Wenchang space site on Hainan island in southern China. A live broadcast of the launch is expected above China Global Television Network, a Chinese state news service, begins at 4:30 a.m. Eastern time. You can watch it in the video player above.
Chang’e-6 will be carried into space by the Long March 5 rocket. If the weather does not cooperate on Friday, a backup start of the same length will be reserved for the following day.
What is Chang’e-6?
Chang’e-6 is the latest in a series of Chinese lunar missions designed to orbit or land on the moon. This will be the first probe to bring back samples from the far side of the moon.
The first to visit that half of the moon in 2019 was Chang’e-4, which included a rover to explore the moon’s Von Karman crater. A year later, Chang’e-5 collected nearly 4 pounds of regolith from the near side of the moon and brought it to Earth. Scientists in other countries, including some in the United States, recently applied to study those samples.
Chang’e-6 will take about a month after launch to reach the far side of the moon and another month to return.
An orbiter will orbit the moon while the mission’s lander descends to the lunar surface. The lander will collect soil from the surface with a mechanical arm and collect subsurface samples from a depth of 6.5 feet with a drill. A lander vehicle will then lift off from the moon, delivering the sample to the orbiter’s re-entry module for return to Earth.
Why the far side of the moon?
The United States, the former Soviet Union and China have successfully collected samples from the near side of the moon and returned them to Earth. But the far side of the moon – which is not actually the dark side of the moon – is different from the near side. It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. With samples from the far side of the moon, scientists can begin to probe why the two sides of the moon are so different.
The mission will collect material from the 1,616-mile-wide Antarctic-Aitken basin. The impact that created the basin – one of the largest in the history of the solar system – is believed to have dug up material from the lunar mantle. If that material can be retrieved, scientists may be able to learn more about the moon’s interior history.
Because one side of the moon always faces Earth, direct contact with the far side of the moon cannot be established. In 2018, China launched the Queqiao satellite into lunar orbit to transmit information from Chang’e 4 to Earth. In March, the country launched a second satellite called Queqiao-2. The pair will be used in tandem to keep in contact with Chang’e-6 during sample collection.
How does Chang’e-6 fit into China’s broader space exploration goals?
China’s lunar exploration program is one aspect of the country’s growing presence in space, which includes mission to Mars and the future asteroid visit. The Chang’e mission series was designed in the 1990s and to date, the success rate is 100%. Its next two probes are under development.
Chang’e-7, scheduled to launch in 2026, will search for water at the lunar south pole. Chang’e-8 will survey material in the same area that could potentially be used to build future infrastructure, According to the China National Space Administration.
China hopes to send crews to the moon by 2030 and is also working to establish a permanent international lunar research base by the 2030s.
