In early May 2024, China launched the Chang'e-6 research vehicle into space. As planned, he immediately headed for the Moon and a month later landed in the area of the Apollo crater. Using a robotic arm with a drilling tool, he extracted soil samples from the far side of the Moon and transferred the cargo to the orbital module for delivery to Earth. Finally, on June 25, the descent module dropped a capsule with unique samples to the ground – they fell on the Inner Mongolia region in northern China. In the near future they will be sent to Beijing for storage and study in laboratory conditions. It would seem that everything is simple: you just need to send the device to the Moon, collect soil and bring it back. But why was China the first country that was able to extract soil from the far side of the Moon? For what reason did scientists from other countries fail to do this?
A capsule with lunar soil that fell to Earth in June 2024. Source: spacenews.com
Contents
- 1 China obtained soil samples from the far side of the Moon
- 2 Features of the soil on the far side of the Moon
- 3 Why is it so difficult to study the far side of the Moon
- 4 When will China fly to the Moon again
China obtained samples soil from the far side of the Moon
In June 2024, China landed on the far side of the Moon for the second time. The first time this happened was in 2019, when the Chang'e-4 interplanetary station was able to descend to the surface near the South Pole of the earth's satellite. For the first time on the far side of the Moon, the device conducted a biological experiment and also sent unique photographs to Earth.
China's Chang'e-4 spacecraft. Source: caixinglobal.com
The main goal of the Chang'e-6 mission was to collect samples from the moon's invisible side and send them back to Earth. Despite the complexity of the task, the researchers coped with it as well as possible. Using a manipulator in the form of an arm and a drill, the device successfully took samples of lunar soil from different areas. The capsule with the valuable samples fell in Inner Mongolia, and this action was shown live on China Central Television.
Lunar soil samples descend to Earth
Features of the soil on the far side of the Moon
Soil samples from the visible side of the Moon have already been studied – especially a lot of material was collected by American scientists as part of the Apollo program. But samples from the reverse side of the earth’s satellite were delivered to Earth for the first time, and are of particular interest to scientists.
Thanks to the success of the Chang'e 6 mission, we are learning a lot about the Moon. Source: cnn.com
Since the far side of the Moon is very different from the visible one, the soil on it may have interesting features from a scientific point of view. For example, the far side had fewer volcanic eruptions, so it is more intact and can tell more about the Moon's past. The Apollo crater is located in the depressionSouth Pole – Aitken, so there is a high probability that the samples contain particles of the inner material of the Moon.
Thus, by studying the samples, scientists will be able to learn more about how the Moon was formed, how it works inside and other interesting details.
Read also:The Moon turned inside out 4.2 billion years ago – how it happened
Why studying the far side of the Moon is so difficult
Previously, the NASA aerospace agency many times wanted to launch a device to collect soil on the far side of the Moon. However, none of the planned projects was ever implemented. Collecting material from the visible side of the Moon has always been and remains a simpler and safer task.
Collecting soil from the hard-to-reach part of the Moon is difficult for several reasons.
First, it is impossible to directly send signals from Earth to the far side of the Moon. To control a spacecraft, satellites are needed to relay signals. As part of the Chang'e-6 mission, Chinese scientists used the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, which was launched into lunar orbit in advance in March 2024.
Chinese communications satellite Queqiao-2. Source: mirkosmosa.ru
Secondly, the far side of the Moon is covered with craters and hills, and in some areas there are many more of them than on the visible side. Therefore, all devices run the risk of breaking even due to a small error. To make a soft landing, Chang'e 6 had to use all its instruments to avoid obstacles.
Thirdly, such complex missions require experience. As part of the Apollo program, the Americans collected samples on the visible side of the Moon. Moreover, this was done by astronauts, not automatic equipment. China, due to its success in 2019, clearly has more experience in all this, which made it possible to complete the Chang'e-6 mission without any problems.
Finally, all of the above requires a lot of money. To fly to the far side of the Moon, you need to develop a lot of different equipment, starting with the interplanetary station itself and ending with relay satellites. There is no information anywhere about how much the Chang'e-6 mission cost. But it could cost several times more than the Chang'e-5 mission, within which China obtained samples from the visible side of the Moon in 2020 – according to open sources, this mission cost about $1.2 billion.
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When China will fly to the Moon again
China is not going to stop there. In 2026, it plans to launch the Chang'e-7 mission, within which the vehicle of the same name will try to find water in the dark areas of the south pole of the Moon. Water will be a valuable resource in the future because many countries want to use Earth's satellite as a staging post for space travel.
In the future, China is going to build a full-fledged human base on the Moon Source: In the future, China wants to build a human base on the Moon. Source: space.com
As part of the Chang'e-8 mission planned for 2028, China will try to use the resources found on the Moon for construction. This will be an important step towards the creation of a real Moon base, which has been discussed for many years now.
You can read even more about China’s achievements in our Telegram channel. Use the search and you will find a lot of interesting things!
In general, Chinese scientists have many plans for the Moon. For example, in 2024, news appeared that Russia and China will build a nuclear reactor on the Moon.