China launches Chang'e-6 probe to collect Moon’s far side sample
Space
6 min read
China has launched the Chang'e-6 probe to collect samples from the far side (dark side)of the Moon. If the mission is successful, then China will become the first country in the world to collect lunar samples from the far side of the Moon. The United States of America and the Soviet Union are the only two countries that have brought samples from the moon, but they have been from the near side.
China was the first country in the world to land on the far side of the moon. In 2019, its Chang’e 4 probe landed on the far side of the moon, but it did not bring any samples from the moon.
India became the first country to land near the moon’s South Pole in August 2023 with its Chandrayaan-3 mission.
Dark Side of the Moon
The moon is the only natural satellite of Earth that revolves around it. The side of the moon that we can see from Earth is called the near side of the moon. The side that cannot be seen from Earth is called the dark side of the moon. The dark side of the moon is actually not dark, and it receives sunlight just like the near side of the moon.
The main reason we cannot see a part of the moon is the speed of the moon's rotation on its axis and its revolution around Earth being the same.
The moon takes 29 Earth days to rotate on its axis and revolve around the Earth. Thus, from Earth, only one side of the moon is visible, and we are unable to see the other part of the moon.
If the moon stops rotating, then people on Earth can see all the sides of the moon.
53-Day Lunar Mission of Chang'e-6 probe
- The China National Space Administration launched the 53-day lunar mission from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on the island of Hainan.
- The 8.3-tonne probe named Chang’e 6 was launched through a Long March 5 rocket on 3 May 2024. Chang’e, in Chinese mythology, is a woman who consumed an elixir of life before flying to the moon.
- According to CNSA, Chang'e 6 consists of four components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a re-entry module.
- The Chang’e 6 probe will make a soft landing in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The basin is 2500 km wide and up to 8 km deep.
- The 53-day mission will bring around two kilograms of lunar soil to Earth for scientific analysis.
- The Lander will use a robotic arm to dig into the lunar surface and will collect the moon’s surface dirt and soil. The soils will be stored inside a container, which will be transferred to a module in orbit before coming back to Earth.
- The Chang’e 6 mission aims to conduct systematic and long-term research on the far side of the moon to study the structure, physical properties, and composition of lunar soil.
International collaboration and Pakistan’s maiden lunar mission
The Chinese Chang’e mission is also an international collaboration. The European Space Agency, France, Italy and Pakistan have contributed instruments to the Chinese mission.
The Chang’e 6 mission also carries a Pakistani-developed iCube-Qamar satellite. It is the first-ever Pakistani mission to the moon.
This miniature satellite has two optical cameras that can take pictures of the moon’s surface.
The Pakistani Space Agency is called the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO).
