The Chang’e-6 probe is retrieved in Xiziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, China.
Xinhua/Shutterstock
China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft has returned to Earth, bringing back the first chunk of space rock from the far side of the moon.
The capsule separated from the orbital container at around 1:20 p.m. local time, 5,000 kilometers above the Atlantic Ocean, and landed in Xiziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China on June 25.
The sample, which should contain about 2 kilograms of lunar material, descended the final 10 kilometres by parachute, landing at 2:07pm and being retrieved by scientists from the China National Space Administration.
Landing on the far side of the moon is difficult because it always faces away from Earth and there is no direct communication line, and this area’s surface remained unexplored until a Chinese spacecraft landed there earlier this month.
The landing and recovery operations relied heavily on autonomous processes and robotic tools, but Chinese engineers were able to send messages to the spacecraft through the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, which was launched in March this year and is still orbiting the moon.
The samples include surface and two meters of material scooped up by Chang’e-6 drilling into its landing site in Apollo Crater, which is within the larger South Pole-Aitken Basin. Scientists hope that this material will help explain how and when these basins formed, and may enable understanding of the origins of other similar lunar craters.
The rocks may indicate the amount of water ice in the region, which could be a key resource for a manned mission that China hopes to send to the moon by 2030.
Before embarking on its crewed mission, China plans to send two more spacecraft, Chang’e-7 and Chang’e-8, to the lunar south pole to gather information on a potential site for a base to be called the International Lunar Research Station. China is leading the mission in collaboration with Russian space agency Roscosmos.
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