On May 3, China will once again launch towards the Moon with Chang’e 6. After successfully bringing back lunar samples to Earth from the visible side, the Chinese space agency (CNSA) now aims to renew the mission… on the far side!
Driven by its ambition for planetary exploration, China joins the exclusive group of powers capable of returning lunar rock samples to our planet, alongside the United States (Apollo missions) and Russia (Soviet Union, Luna missions). By the end of 2020, with the Chang’e 5 mission, China brought back 1,731 grams. Will Chang’e 6 repeat this success?
Uncovering the Secrets Beneath the Lunar Crust
China already landed on the far side of the Moon on January 3, 2018, with the automated mission Chang’e 4 and its rover Yutu-2. The mission has been a resounding success and continues to this day. Chang’e 6 targets a site in the same region as Chang’e 4: the Aitken Basin, a remnant of a gigantic crater in the Southern hemisphere.
The Aitken Basin is known as a potential reservoir of rocks from the mantle of the Moon, a layer of rock beneath the crust that may have been exposed during the crater formation. The scientific community hopes to analyze some samples, complementing the Chang’e 4’s on-site measurements.
Another interest is to bring back rocks from the far side of the Moon for the first time. The site targeted by Chang’e 6 is located in the Apollo crater (formed within the Aitken Basin) at 43° south, far from the sites targeted at the lunar South Pole by Chinese and American manned missions.
53 Days of Mission
Chang’e 6 is set to launch on May 3 from the Wenchang Space Center in the south of the country aboard the powerful Chinese Long March 5 rocket. Five days later, the probe is supposed to enter lunar orbit and remain there for a few weeks. Chang’e 6’s landing module is expected to touch down on June 2 in the Apollo crater. To communicate with Earth from the far side, the probe will utilize a relay satellite recently deployed by China.
On the ground, operations will last a maximum of 48 hours. Sample collection will be done in two different ways: using aChang’e 6 Mission to Bring Lunar Samples to Earth
Chang’e 6, a Chinese lunar exploration mission, is set to bring back lunar samples to Earth. The mission aims to collect rocks from the lunar surface using a scoop and drilling samples from the subsurface. In total, CNSA plans to return nearly two kilograms of Moon rocks to Earth.
Chang’e 6 is designed as a backup to Chang’e 5, to ensure the mission’s success. The missions are quite similar, with the target landing site being the far side of the Moon, and a new addition of underground drilling to collect a core sample of lunar rock two meters deep.
After spending 48 hours on the Moon, a part of the lander containing the sample capsule will lift off from the Moon to rendezvous with the orbiter. The samples will be transferred to the orbiter before the journey back to Earth. The sample return is scheduled for the end of June.
International Scientific Instruments on Board
In addition to Chinese scientific instruments and sample collection devices, Chang’e 6 will carry three international instruments. A cube-shaped nanosatellite developed in Pakistan will also be onboard, likely for deployment in lunar orbit.
Among the instruments is the Dorn radon detector, developed by the Institute of Research in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France, and Cnes. This marks the first time a French instrument will land on the Moon. The radon detection will help trace the presence of water and uranium on the Moon. The other two foreign instruments include a Swedish ion detector and an Italian laser reflector.