HELSINKI — China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft appears to be carrying a previously undisclosed lunar rover as part of the mission’s farside exploration plans.
Chang’e 6 was launched on a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang on early May 3. This mission will attempt to bring back the first ever sample from the far side of the Moon to Earth.
Ahead of the launch, China revealed the mission’s objectives, landing site and scientific payload. However, after the launch, the probe’s manufacturer, China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), released an image of the probe attached to the mission lander.
Chang’e 6 is a backup for the 2020 Chang’e 5 nearside sample return mission. The success of this mission led to Chang’e 6 being repurposed for a more ambitious far-side sampling mission. A similar process led to the preliminary Chang’e 4 mission landing in the Von Karman Crater on the far side of the Moon, following the success of the Chang’e 3 lander and rover mission.
The Chang’e 6 mission includes new international payloads from cubesats from France, Sweden, Italy, and Pakistan, as well as additional rovers not aboard Chang’e 5.
Little is known about the rover, but a post from the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics (SIC), part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), mentions the Chang’e 6 rover. That suggests the small vehicle is equipped with a thermal imaging spectrometer.
The payload will determine the composition of rocks, soils, and regolith on the moon by exploiting the way different minerals and compounds absorb and emit infrared light in distinctive ways. This can be used for water detection.
It is unclear how the rover, attached to the side of the lander, will descend to the surface. You can release it or use a folding ladder or other mechanism. The rover may use her WiFi to communicate with the lander. Given the small size of the spacecraft and the short lifetime of the mission lander, the spacecraft’s operational time and objectives are likely to be limited.
surprise package
This is not the first time China has included a bonus spacecraft in a mission. China’s Tianwen No. 1 Mars has delivered one intermittent surprise after another. The company first unveiled its expendable spacecraft in transfer orbit, taking photos of the Tianbun-1 orbiter in deep space on its way to Mars.
The Zhurong rover, which landed on Mars as part of its mission, also dropped a camera. It photographed the rover posing and sent the image to her Zhurong using WiFi.
The Tianwen-1 orbiter then repeated the selfie trick with another removable camera while in orbit around Mars.
Chang’e 6 mission schedule
Chang’e 6 could reach the moon late Tuesday ET (early morning Wednesday, May 8, UTC) and enter lunar orbit. China has not yet released a clear official schedule for this mission. However, according to information released by the Deep Space Exploration Laboratory (DSEL) under the China National Space Administration (CNSA), it is expected to take 53 days from launch to landing.
Lighting conditions in the landing target area within Apollo Crater are likely not immediately suitable for landing or ground operations. According to the lunar observation software, the sunset in Apollo Crater will occur in the early morning hours of May 13th UTC.
Sunrise will occur on May 28, so Chang’e 6 is likely to attempt landing in early June. This means the spacecraft will spend more than three weeks in orbit around the moon before attempting to land. The timing of the attempt is determined by constraints on the spacecraft’s trajectory and surface illumination conditions for power generation.
As with Chang’e 5, sampling is expected to be completed within 48 hours after landing. The samples will be sent into lunar orbit via an ascent vehicle, and then tracked by the orbiting Chang’e 6 satellite. Based on early missions, the pair will likely rendezvous and dock about two days after liftoff, with the ascent vehicle scrapped after a few more days.
The orbiter will then prepare to leave lunar orbit at the calculated time. The spacecraft will then release its re-entry capsule around June 25, before returning to Earth. If there is any propellant left, the orbiter will likely ignite the engines and send the spacecraft on a secondary mission. The Chang’e 5 orbiter visited Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 as part of its extended mission and entered a far retrograde orbit around the Moon.
If successful, the samples delivered by the Chang’e 6 mission could change our understanding of Earth and the moon. It could also provide new clues about the history of the early solar system.
