China’s Chang’e-6 mission successfully delivered the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon to Earth, but what happened to the lander that collected the lunar material?
Chang’e 6 Release It was launched on May 3. The mission consisted of four spacecraft: an orbiter, a lander, an ascent vehicle, and a re-entry capsule. Landing at Apollo Crater Launched on June 1, its primary mission was to scoop up and excavate unique samples from the far side of the Moon and load them onto an ascender for launch into lunar orbit.
The samples finally arrived on Earth on June 25th. landing Just as planned in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia.
Meanwhile, the Chang’e 6 lander Moon The probe also carried other payloads, including a panoramic camera and a small rover. Information about the probe’s fate was recently released by the French space agency CNES, which provided the mission with a radon emission detector payload called DORN.
Related: China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft discovers long-sought particle on far side of the moon
“As planned, shortly before Chang’e-6 was due to lift off from the lunar surface, DORN was switched off due to the ground platform becoming inactive,” a CNES spokesperson said in an email.
The ascent launch appears to have caused significant damage to the lander, which was able to capture the event on film. Autonomous deployment of the rover and photographing the lander — Packaging was also completed before the launch, including other European equipment. Recorded previously undetected charged particles On the surface of the moon.
If there was any activity after Ascender’s launch, it would have been completed by the time dawn broke over Apollo Crater. Chang’e 3 and Chang’e 4 Although the Chang’e 6 landers touched down on the near and far sides of the Moon, they did not carry the radioisotope heaters necessary for long-term operations on the Moon’s surface to withstand the extreme cold of the long lunar night. Night at Apollo Crater began on June 11 and the sun rose again on June 26.
Meanwhile, Ascender, which delivered the samples from the Moon to the Chang’e-6 spacecraft waiting in lunar orbit, is also now out of commission. China’s space agency has not commented on Ascender’s fate, but it is likely that the rocket was responsibly deorbited to the Moon after docking with the orbiter and transferring the samples.
Amateur radio operator Scott Tilley tracked down a signal from Ascender, but the lack of one suggested that a moon crash was being ordered.
China appears to have instituted a sampling protocol for its Chang’e-5 mission, which brought samples from the near side of the moon back to Earth in late 2020.
After all other operations were completed, the re-entry capsule and the samples it contained were transported to Beijing on Wednesday (June 26). The samples will soon be transferred to a specially developed facility for storage, analysis and distribution for research.
Meanwhile, the Queqiao-2 Lunar Relay Satellite, which helped power the Farside Sample Mission, will continue to orbit with a scientific payload to support the ongoing Chang’e-4 mission and future planned lunar orbital missions. Chang’e 7 The mission is scheduled to reach the lunar south pole around 2026.
