The mission could be the first to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon, as a space rivalry between the United States and China heats up.
Personnel at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center watch on Sunday as a Chinese spacecraft lands on the far side of the moon. An unmanned Chinese spacecraft touched down on the far side of the moon Sunday, China’s space agency said, marking its second mission to a lunar region that no other country has landed on amid a growing international rivalry over space exploration. If successful, it will be the first mission in history to retrieve samples from the far side of the moon.
The China National Space Administration sent the Chang’e 6 lunar probe to collect rock and other material near and around an impact crater called the Apollo basin, which is part of the larger South Pole-Aitken basin of the moon, according to the country’s officialon May 3 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, located on the southern island of Hainan. In Chinese mythology, Chang’e is the goddess of the moon.
The Chang’e 6 is expected to take about 15 hours to collect the samples. To adjust to that short time frame, CNSA scientists developed the space craft to make autonomous judgments while executing fewer commands than on previous missions, according to Xinhua. The mission aims to develop key sampling technology, as well as takeoff and ascent capabilities from the far side of the moon, Xinhua added.
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