China is set to embark on its latest lunar mission, Chang’e-6, which will aim to collect lunar material from the far side of the moon and bring it back to Earth. This mission, scheduled to launch on May 3rd, will be the first of its kind, as the far side of the moon is never directly visible from Earth. The Chang’e-6 mission hopes to provide valuable insights into the moon’s past and the formation of our solar system, as well as explain the compositional differences between lunar rocks on the near side and those on the far side.
To facilitate this mission, China has deployed the eighth Long March 5 rocket to the launch pad at Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island. In March, a relay satellite called Queqiao-2 was also sent into space to aid communication between the Chang’e-6 mission and Earth-based ground stations. The mission will utilize four spacecraft, collectively weighing approximately 8,200 kilograms.
The Chang’e-6 mission builds upon China’s previous lunar missions, including the successful Chang’e-4 mission to the far side of the moon and the Chang’e-5 mission, which returned samples from the near side in 2020. However, the Chang’e-6 mission is more complex due to the need for a communications relay. The mission is expected to last 53 days from launch to landing, significantly longer than Chang’e-5’s 23-day mission.
The landing site for Chang’e-6 will be the southern area of the Apollo crater, within the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the moon. This location is believed to hold intriguing clues about various lunar mysteries. Scientists hope that by studying this area, they can make breakthroughs in understanding the moon’s retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling, take-off and ascent technologies, and automatic sample-return.
The international community is also contributing to the Chang’e-6 mission. France, Sweden, Italy, and Pakistan will provide scientific payloads for the mission. France will contribute the Detection of Outgassing RadoN (DORN) instrument, which will detect radon outgassing from the lunar crust. Sweden, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), will provide the “Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface” (NILS) payload. Italy will provide a passive laser retro-reflector, and Pakistan’s national space agency, SUPARCO, in partnership with China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University, will contribute the 7-kg ICUBE-Q cubesat.
The Chang’e-6 mission is part of China’s broader goals of conducting a crewed lunar mission by 2030 and establishing a permanent lunar base in the 2030s as part of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program. China’s ambitions in lunar exploration are continuing to expand, and their upcoming mission to the far side of the moon represents another milestone in their space exploration endeavors.
