On Tuesday, a capsule loaded with soil will parachute from the far side of the moon into the desert in China’s Inner Mongolia region.
The sample, retrieved by the China National Space Administration’s Chang’e-6 lander, is expected to be the latest achievement in China’s near-flawless string of lunar exploration missions since 2007.
Here’s what you need to know about the Chang’e-6 mission’s return to Earth.
When is it landing and how can I see it?
The Chinese space agency has yet to confirm when the mission will end.
But NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center said Chang’e-6’s sample return capsule is scheduled to land at 1:41 a.m. Eastern time in the Xiziwangqi region of northern China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region at 1:41 p.m. local time.
The Chinese space agency will post a live video stream closer to the scheduled landing, and The New York Times will share an embedded live video stream.
What is the dark side of the moon?
First, don’t call it the dark side of the moon. There’s plenty of sunlight there.
But when we look up at the sky from Earth, we only see one side of the Moon, its near side: its surface mottled with broad, dark plains where ancient lava flows formed.
The far side of the moon, the half that is not visible from Earth, is different: it has fewer plains, more craters and a thicker crust, and scientists don’t know why.
The mystery may never be solved: China has landed two missions at the site to study why it’s so different from the front side.
What is China’s Chang’e Project?
China’s lunar exploration program, named after the Chinese moon goddess Chang’e (pronounced “Cheon-ah”), was originally planned in three phases: orbit, landing, and sample collection. The first two spacecraft, Chang’e-1 and Chang’e-2, orbited the Moon and took images and mapped its surface. Chang’e-3 landed on the Moon’s near side in 2013, and Chang’e-4 landed on the far side in 2019. Rovers from both missions have since explored the lunar surface in more detail.
A year later, Chang’e 5 landed and collected about four pounds of lunar regolith, which it then launched back to Earth. The mission made China only the third country to collect samples from the moon, after the United States and the Soviet Union.
What has happened on Chang’e 6 so far?
Chang’e-6 launched on May 3 with an even grander plan: to bring back material from the far side of the moon. The far side of the moon faces away from Earth, making it difficult to reach and impossible to directly communicate with a lander there. The Chinese space agency contacted Chang’e-6 during the mission using two lunar-orbiting satellites, Queqiao and Queqiao-2.
The spacecraft orbited the moon for several weeks before landing on the moon’s surface in June, on the edge of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the oldest and deepest impact crater on the moon.
Equipped with a mechanical shovel and drill, Chang’e-6 spent two days collecting lunar rocks and dust from around and beneath the lunar surface, which were then stored aboard the rover. A small rover attached to the side of the probe took photos of the lander, which was flying the Chinese flag.
The spacecraft’s rocket then launched on June 3, putting the samples into lunar orbit, where they remained until June 6, when they were reunited with the spacecraft, which was preparing to return to Earth.
Sometime on Tuesday, the sample container will attempt to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere. If the mission is successful, like Chang’e-4, China will be able to recover the material and begin scientific study of its contents.
