Destination: Far Side

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China Launches Spacecraft to the Far Side of the Moon – Katrina Miller

Artist: Wallace Wood

[May 7, 2024 - Hainan Island] - China’s Chang’e-6 mission is nearing the start of a lunar orbital phase, after a five day journey to the moon. Its eventual goal: to place a lander on the far side, and obtain sediments, which will be returned to Earth.

This occurs five days after Chang’e-6’s take off from The Wenchang space facility on Hainan Island under the propulsion of a Long March-6 rocket.  

This is the latest in a series of Chinese lunar missions. Estimates suggest the orbital prelude will last 53 days. The probe will circle the moon and a lander will descend into the South Pole Aiken basin, which is said to be one of the largest meteorite impact sites in our solar system. 

China has yet to publish a specific official timeline for the mission. China hopes to have a lunar research base by the 2030s.

The plan Chang’e-6 is to remove material from the lunar mantle, take off and rejoin the mothership and a re-entry module that will deliver the sample back to Earth.  The moon lander is equipped with a spectrometer, radar and camera, as well as a mechanical arm capable of drilling as deep as 6.5 feet. 

The orbital phase may end with the next sunrise, May 28, meaning Chang’e-6 will likely attempt to land in early June, per reporting of Spacenews.com

[Jun  2 2024 - Reuters - China landed an uncrewed spacecraft on the far side of the moon on Sunday, a landmark mission aiming to retrieve the world's first rock and soil samples from the dark lunar hemisphere, China's space agency said.]

Chang’e-6 is the third lunar expedition this year.

In January, Japan fielded the SLIM lander, which settled ajar on the moon’s surface with its nozzle in the air after bone-jarring impact. Surprisingly, the lander has continued to function on the lunar surface long after it was expected to lose contact with its associated robot vehicle. Also, this year, the private group Intuitive Machines of Houston landed Odysseus on the moon. This machine had limited communications before circuits began freezing during the lunar night. 

China Moon Map

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