China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft has made history by successfully landing on the far side of the Moon, a feat previously accomplished only by China’s Chang’e-4 in 2019.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that the unmanned craft touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 06:23 Beijing time on Sunday morning (22:23 GMT Saturday).
Launched on May 3, the primary objective of the mission is to collect valuable rock and soil samples from this unexplored region, marking the first-ever attempt in history to do so.
The target area, located in a massive crater on the Moon’s South Pole, is believed to contain some of the Moon’s oldest rocks.
The landing posed significant challenges due to the difficulty in communicating with spacecraft once they reach the far side of the Moon. Utilizing an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system, the lander autonomously detected obstacles during descent, ensuring a safe landing. The operation was supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite.
Chinese state media described the successful landing as a “historic moment,” with applause erupting at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center upon touchdown. The lander is set to spend up to three days gathering materials from the surface, utilizing innovative engineering techniques despite the high risks and difficulties involved.
Professor John Pernet-Fisher from the University of Manchester expressed excitement about the potential scientific insights that could be gained from analyzing rocks from this unexplored area. The mission aims to collect approximately 2kg of material using a drill and mechanical arm.
The South Pole-Aitken basin, being one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, holds the promise of providing material from deep inside the lunar mantle, offering valuable insights into planetary formation.
Access to water in the Moon’s South Pole region could significantly enhance prospects for establishing a human base for scientific research. If successful, the craft will return to Earth with the precious samples, which will be analyzed by scientists in China and later made available to researchers worldwide.
This marks China’s second attempt at collecting lunar samples, following the successful Chang’e 5 mission in 2020.
China has ambitious plans for further lunar exploration, aiming to launch three more uncrewed missions this decade and ultimately sending a Chinese astronaut to walk on the Moon by around 2030. Meanwhile, the US, through NASA’s Artemis program, also aims to put astronauts back on the Moon, with the Artemis 3 mission scheduled for 2026.
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