Li Zhenzhou/VCG via Getty Images
China intends to return to the moon to get more samples.
The country launched its largest rocket, Long March 5, on Friday, carrying an orbiter, lander, ascent vehicle and return spacecraft. The Chang’e 6 probe weighs about 8 tons and will bring back rocks and soil from the far side of the moon, but scientists have so far been unable to study them in detail.
The mission’s goal is to bring about 2 kg (4.4 pounds) of rock back to Earth a little over a month from now.
Chang’e 6 is based on the Chinese space program’s successful lunar mission. In 2019, Chang’e 4 made a soft landing on the far side of the moon, the first time a spacecraft has done so. The far side is more difficult than the near side because line-of-sight communication with Earth is not possible.
At the end of 2020, the Chang’e 5 mission landed on the near side of the moon and successfully recovered 1.7 kg of rock. These were then blown off the moon’s surface and returned to China, where they have been studied ever since. This is the first time in half a century that samples have been returned from the moon since efforts by the United States and the Soviet Union.
ambitious plans
China’s latest mission to the moon, which launched on Friday, will combine the country’s learnings from the previous two missions by collecting and returning samples from the moon’s far side.
“If the Chang’e 6 mission achieves its goals, it will provide scientists with the first direct evidence to understand the environment and material composition of the far side of the Moon, which is extremely important.” Wu Weilen said. Scholar at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief architect of China’s lunar exploration program.
The mission follows the launch and deployment in March of the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, which will serve as a communication bridge from the far side of the moon to carriers on Earth. China also announced two future lunar exploration missions, Chang’e 7 and Chang’e 8, later this year. These robotic missions will land near the moon’s south pole, testing the moon’s resources and preparing the way for future manned missions.
Nominally, China’s current plans call for two ancient astronauts to land on the moon for the first time in 2029 or 2030, and it hopes to eventually establish a lunar outpost. .
China’s lunar exploration program does not operate in a vacuum, and technically that is the case, but the important point here is that China’s exploration efforts are based on about 30 lunar missions under the auspices of the United States, NASA, and Artemis. This is being done in parallel with parallel efforts by partners. program.
Can NASA compete?
After decades of focusing its exploration efforts elsewhere, NASA finally returned to the Moon about seven years ago. Since then, the company has been working with the commercial space industry to develop a plan for a sustainable return to the lunar surface.
From the outside looking in, China’s moon program appears to be in the driver’s seat. It’s hard to argue with the successive successes of the Chang’e moon mission and the unprecedented landing on the far side of the moon. If Chang’e 6 is successful, it will be a new attack that will give China an advantage in its moon program.
But to NASA’s credit, the agency is not simply trying to recreate the glory of the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and early 1970s. For example, China’s first lunar mission with astronauts aims to land two ancient astronauts on the moon’s surface for just a few hours. Like the Apollo rockets and spacecraft of more than half a century ago, the vehicle will be completely disposable.
NASA is taking a different approach as it works with industry to develop a fleet of commercial cargo landers. For example, Intuitive Machines is a hugely successful company. Odysseus Missions earlier this year, as well as large human landers built by SpaceX and Blue Origin. This overall “architecture” is much more complex and requires countless launches to refuel the spacecraft in orbit. It will probably take a few more years to reach the first moon landing mission, either late this year or early 2030s. But if NASA persists with this approach and succeeds, it could open up a highway to the moon that could only be dreamed of in the Apollo era. Imagine a platoon of spacecraft going to the moon and back. That’s the vision.
So this is a competition between China, which takes a traditional approach, and NASA’s efforts to pave the way for some kind of new future. Watching how this race to the moon unfolds over the next decade will be one of the most fascinating stories to come.
