China is launching a second lander on the far side of the moon, and if successful it will be the first mission ever to bring back samples from a part of the moon that Earth can never see.
Unlike Earth, whose surface is constantly renewed through erosion and tectonic movement, the Moon remains frozen in time. Scientists hope that recovering material from the other side of the Earth may reveal information about the origin and evolution of the Earth-moon system.
The mission is called “Chang’e 6,” after the Chinese moon goddess, and is pronounced “chang-ga.”
When will Chang’e 6 be launched? How can I see it?
Chang’e 6 is scheduled to lift off from the Wenchang Space Base on Hainan Island in southern China at 5:27 a.m. ET on Friday. Live coverage of the launch will be broadcast on China’s state-run news service, China Global Television Network, starting at 4:30 a.m. Eastern Time. You can watch it in the video player above.
Chang’e 6 will be carried into space by a Long March 5 rocket. In the event of inclement weather on Friday, a backup launch slot for the same period is reserved for the following day.
What is Chang’e 6?
Chang’e 6 is the latest in a series of Chinese lunar exploration missions aimed at orbiting or landing on the moon. It will be the first spacecraft to return samples from the far side of the moon.
The first half of the moon was visited by Chang’e 4 in 2019, which included a rover exploring the moon’s Von Karman Crater. A year later, Chang’e 5 collected about 4 pounds of regolith from the moon’s near side and brought it to Earth. Scientists in other countries, including the United States, recently petitioned to study these samples.
Chang’e 6 will take about a month from launch to reach the far side of the moon, and another month to return.
The orbiter orbits the moon while the mission’s lander descends to the lunar surface. The lander will use a mechanical arm to collect soil from the surface and a drill to collect subsurface samples from as deep as 6.5 feet. The lander’s vehicle will then lift off from the moon, pass the sample to the orbiter’s reentry module, and return to Earth.
Why is it on the far side of the moon?
The United States, the former Soviet Union, and China successfully collected samples from the far side of the moon and brought them to Earth. But the far side of the moon (which is not actually the far side of the moon) is different from the near side. The Earth’s crust is thicker, more cratered, and has fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed. Using samples from the moon’s far side, scientists can begin to investigate why the moon’s far side is so different.
The mission will collect material from the 1,616-mile-wide Antarctic Aitken Basin. Material is thought to have been excavated from the moon’s mantle by the impact that created the largest basin in the history of the solar system. If the material can be recovered, scientists will be able to learn more about the history of the moon’s interior.
The same side of the Moon always faces the Earth, so it is impossible to establish direct communication with the far side of the Moon. In 2018, China sent the lunar orbiter Queqiao to relay information from Chang’e 4 to Earth. In March, it launched its second satellite, Queqiao-2. The pair will be used in tandem to maintain contact with Chang’e 6 during sample collection.
How does Chang’e 6 fit into China’s broader space exploration goals?
China’s moon exploration program is one aspect of the country’s growing presence in space, which includes missions to Mars and future visits to asteroids. The Chang’e Mission series was designed in his 1990s and boasts a 100% success rate so far. His next two probes are already in development.
Chang’e 7 is scheduled to launch in 2026 and will search for water at the moon’s south pole. Chang’e 8 will explore the same region for materials that could be used to build future infrastructure, China’s National Space Administration said.
China wants to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030, and is also working on establishing a permanent international lunar research base in the 2030s.
