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China’s Chang’e-6 Set to Bring Lunar Treasures Back to Earth

  • 07 Jun 2024

On 4th June 2024, China’s uncrewed Chang’e-6 spacecraft lifted off from the far side of the Moon carrying a precious cargo of samples, marking an exciting moment in lunar exploration. This ascent followed the successful and historic landing of Chang’e-6 on the dark side of the Moon just two days prior.

The Chang’e-6 mission represents a significant leap for the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP), administered by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). The far side of the Moon, also known as the “dark side,” is permanently hidden from Earth’s view. This unexplored territory holds scientific potential due to its unique geological history and potentially pristine environment, shielded from Earth’s radiation belts.

Photo: CNSA
Mission Made Possible?

Named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang’e-6 was launched on China’s most powerful rocket, the Long March 5, from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on 3rd May. The spacecraft reached the vicinity of the Moon roughly a week later and orbited for 20 days to find an appropriate landing site. 

On 30th May, Chang’e-6’s lander-ascender combination separated from its orbiter-returner combination and the former descended to the lunar surface. It performed a fully autonomous soft landing on 1st June, in the southern part of the Apollo crater within the vast South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin. SPA is a colossal impact crater believed to be the oldest and largest crater on the Moon. Scientists theorise that the SPA Basin may contain unique materials ejected from deep within the lunar mantle during the impact event that formed it. By analysing these materials, researchers hope to gain a deeper understanding of the Moon’s internal composition and evolution.

Landing on the far side of the Moon is significantly more complex than landing on its near side due to the phenomenon of tidal locking, which means that the far side of the Moon never faces Earth. This makes direct communication with ground stations impossible, as there is no line of sight for data transfers. Automation on the far side is also challenging, especially at high latitudes, where long shadows can confuse landers. To overcome these obstacles, a complex relay satellite network is necessary to facilitate communication between the lander and Earth. For this mission, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, launched in April, played a crucial role in maintaining a continuous communication link during the landing and sample collection phases.

Photo: CNSA
Sample Collected, Returning to Earth
Chang’e-6 successfully completed a crucial part of its mission by collecting approximately 2 kilograms of material from the far side of the Moon. This included surface soil and rocks using a scoop, as well as subsurface samples from up to 2 metres below the surface using a drill. The samples collected was were transferred to the the ascent vehicle. Pictures of a hole left on the lunar surface from the sample digging by Chang’e-6 went viral on Chinese social media platform Weibo after state broadcaster CCTV said the hole was shaped like the character “zhong”, a nod to the Chinese word for China, “zhongguo”. Chinese press also reported that Chang’e-6 displayed its national flag on the far side of the Moon for the first time. Additionally, a small rover was deployed, which drove a short distance on the lunar surface and captured images of the Chang’e-6 lander.
 

On June 3, 2024, the ascender successfully took off from the lander portion of the Chang’e-6 probe and entered a predetermined circumlunar orbit. There, it will rendezvous with the orbiting service module, where the samples will be robotically transferred into a re-entry capsule for their return to Earth. The landing is expected to occur in China’s Inner Mongolia region around June 25.

If all goes as planned, the mission will provide China and the astronautic community with a pristine record of the Moon’s 4.5-billion-year history and yield new clues on the solar system’s formation. It will also allow for an unprecedented comparison between the dark, unexplored region and the Moon’s better understood Earth-facing side.

More about the Chang’e-6:

Chang’e-6 consists of four modules:

  • Orbiter: The Orbiter provides lunar orbit insertion. It houses the return capsule and returns it to earth at the end of the mission.
  • Lander: Equipped with sensors and cameras for landing on the lunar surface. It will scoop and drill lunar samples from up to 2 meters below the surface. The samples will be transferred to the Ascent vehicle on top of the lander.
  • Ascent vehicle: Separates from the lander and lifts off from the Moon carrying the gathered lunar samples. It will autonomously rendezvous and dock with the orbiter, where the samples will be robotically transferred into a re-entry capsule for delivery to Earth.
  • Re-entry Module: A capsule designed for high-speed atmospheric re-entry to Earth.

The Chang’e-6 probe also carries four international scientific payloads.

  • DORN (Detection of Outgassing Radon): An alpha spectrometer provided by the French Research Institute of Astrophysics and Planetology. It will study the transportation dynamics of radon and other elements between the lunar soil (regolith) and the exosphere, the Moon’s extremely thin atmosphere.
  • INRRI (INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations): A passive laser retro-reflector for optical range-finding. Built at the SCF Lab in Rome, Italy, it can precisely measures distances from the lander to orbit
  • NILS (Negative Ions on Lunar Surface): A mass spectrometer developed by the Swedish Institute for Space Physics to measure the negative ions emitted from the lunar surface due to its interaction with the solar wind.
  • ICUBE-Q: A CubeSat orbiter (miniature satellite) developed by the Islamabad Institute of Science and Technology in Pakistan, in cooperation with Shanghai Jiao Tong University. It carries two optical cameras to image the lunar surface and obtain lunar data, including crater locations, water, and traces of ice on the Moon’s surface.

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