China lands on moon's far side in historic sample-retrieval mission
By
Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
2 Jun 2024 13:25
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China sadvances its mission to retrieve the world's first samples from the dark lunar hemisphere.
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-*The Chang'e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination sit atop the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province, China on May 3, 2024. (AFP)
On Sunday, China successfully landed an unmanned spacecraft on the far side of the moon, marking a significant breakthrough in its historic mission to collect the first-ever rock and soil samples from the dark side of the lunar hemisphere.
This successful landing significantly enhances China's position in the global race to the moon. With countries like the United States aiming to capitalize on lunar resources for sustained astronaut missions and establishing moon bases within the next decade, China's achievement underscores its growing prowess in space exploration.
The Chang'e-6 spacecraft, equipped with an array of tools and its launcher, successfully landed in the vast impact crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon's far side at 6:23 a.m (2223 GMT), as announced by the China National Space Administration.
The mission "involves many engineering innovations, high risks, and great difficulty", the agency said in a statement on its website. "The payloads carried by the Chang'e-6 lander will work as planned and carry out scientific exploration missions."
China's successful mission marks its second achievement on the far side of the moon. The side perpetually facing away from Earth is characterized by deep and dark craters, posing unique challenges for communication and robotic landing operations.
In light of these hurdles, lunar and space experts engaged in the Chang'e-6 mission described the landing phase as the most precarious moment, with the highest risk of failure.
"Landing on the far side of the moon is very difficult because you don’t have line-of-sight communications, you’re relying on a lot of links in the chain to control what is going on, or you have to automate what is going on," explained Neil Melville-Kenney, a technical officer at the European Space Agency collaborating with China on one of the Chang'e-6 payloads.
"Automation is very difficult especially at high latitudes because you have long shadows which can be very confusing for landers," Melville added.
The Chang'e-6 probe was launched on May 3 aboard China's Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the southern island of Hainan. Approximately a week later, it reached the lunar vicinity, where it adjusted its orbit in readiness for the landing operation.
Chang'e-6 represents the third lunar landing this year globally. Japan's SLIM lander touched down in January, followed by a lander from the US startup Intuitive Machines the next month.
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