china moon trips

China's Chang'e 6 mission bringing back first samples from far side of moon

China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft is making history as it prepares to head back to Earth carrying the first lunar samples – 4.4 pounds of them – from the far side of the moon.

The uncrewed craft is carrying bits of lunar rock and soil scraped from the Apollo Basin crater in the moon’s South Pole- Aitken Basin .

Chang'e 6 will begin making its way home on June 20 with the opening of the orbital transfer window, the best time to return to Earth. A parachute landing in inner Mongolia is set for June 25.

If recovery is successful, the samples will be the first from the moon’s far side , the one that always faces away from Earth, to be analyzed.

Researchers hope the samples will provide clues why the two sides of the moon are so different , according to sciencenews.org.

What is the Chang'e 6 mission?

The spacecraft has two modules: an orbiter and a lander. The lander separated from the orbiter after the craft achieved lunar orbit and soft-landed on the moon's surface. Here's an overview of its return to Earth:

The lander used a variety of tools, including a drill and a scoop, to retrieve the samples over two days. It then lifted off from the surface and docked with the orbiter. The lunar samples were transferred to the orbiter, which will rocket back to Earth.

How long was the Chang'e 6 mission?

In all, from launch to capsule return, the mission will have returned the sample in 54 days. Here's a look at key events on the mission timeline:

Why the excitement over samples from the far side?

The samples, the first gathered from the far side of the moon, may give researchers new information on how the moon was formed and why the moon’s two sides are so different .

The American Geophysical Union released a study in May 2019 that suggested the hemispheric differences were caused by a dwarf planet that collided with the moon in the early history of the solar system. The collision could have given the far side an extra layer on its crust.

Source: USA TODAY Network reporting and research; NASA; space.com; China National Space Administration; Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration; Reuters

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• 04 June 2024

China’s Chang’e-6 collects first rock samples from Moon’s far side

Ling Xin is a freelancer writer based in Ohio.

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Chang’e-6 took several images of its leg and surroundings, which were stitched together to make this panorama. Credit: CNSA via Xinhua/Alamy

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China’s Chang’e-6 robotic Moon lander has wrapped up two days of drilling into the lunar surface of the far side of the Moon and the ascender has blasted back into space. The spacecraft, with its precious rock samples, is now in lunar orbit, waiting to dock with the orbiter for the trip home. It is the first time that samples have been taken from the far side of the Moon.

The Chang’e-6 lander made a successful touchdown on the Moon early Sunday morning (Beijing time) at a preselected site in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, the oldest and largest lunar impact basin. Since then, Chang’e-6 has autonomously deployed its drill and scoop to collect soil and regolith — rocky material covering the Moon’s surface. Together, the samples are expected to weigh up to 2 kilograms. “The sampling process has gone very smoothly,” says Chunlai Li, the mission’s deputy chief designer at the National Astronomical Observatories of China in Beijing.

With the specimens loaded and sealed, the ascender fired its engine at 7.38 a.m. Tuesday morning to lift off from the landing site, and reached its designated lunar orbit six minutes later, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in Beijing.

“China is successfully carrying out complex operations on the lunar far side,” says Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts. “The launch of the ascent stage was the first time anyone has taken off from the far side.”

Captivating basalt

Li says that Chang’e-6’s precise landing location is 41.63º S and 153.99º W, which means that the samples will mainly consist of basalts — dark, cooled lava. Similar material has previously been brought back to Earth for analysis from the Moon’s near side.

The basalts are estimated to be around 2.4 billion years old — much younger than the SPA basin itself, says planetary geologist Alfred McEwen at the University of Arizona in Tucson. “There should also be fragments of older rocks in the regolith they collected,” McEwen says.

What China’s mission to collect rocks from the Moon’s far side could reveal

Scientists hope to use samples returned from the SPA basin to precisely measure its age and to improve their understanding of the early history of the Earth and other planets, notes planetary geologist Jim Head at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.

Regardless of whether this information can be gleaned, the scientific value of the samples, if successfully returned, will be very high, he says. They will be the first rocks ever retrieved from the Moon’s far side, which has dramatically different topology compared with the near side. “Obtaining dates and compositional information from the many hundreds of fragments sampled by the Chang’e-6 drill and scoop is like a having treasure chest full of critical parts of lunar history, and will very likely revolutionize our view of the entire Moon,” he says.

Rock then dock

In the coming days, Chang’e-6 will face one of the trickiest parts of the mission — rendezvous and docking of the ascender with the orbiter and transferring the samples, says McDowell. “You have two robots orbiting the Moon separately at 5,900 kilometres per hour, which have to come together and touch each other gently without crashing into each other,” he says.

The Chang’e-6 samples’ trip to Earth is expected to last about three weeks, and will end around 25 June with the return capsule piercing through Earth’s atmosphere and landing in the grasslands of the Siziwang Banner in northern China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

Planetary scientist Michel Blanc at the Research Institute in Astrophysics and Planetology in Toulouse, France, who watched the launch of Chang’e-6 on Hainan Island in China a month ago and has followed the key steps of the mission, says that its scientific impact cannot be overemphasized, because it will not only bring the first sample from the lunar far side, but also from one of the lowest-altitude regions of the Moon, where the surface might be closest to the mantle.

“We planetary scientists are crossing fingers for the success of the rest of the mission,” Blanc says.

Nature 630 , 281-282 (2024)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-01625-0

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January 3, 2019

China Makes Historic First Landing on Mysterious Far Side of the Moon

The milestone marks a turning point for China’s space exploration, and may unlock deep secrets of lunar history

By Mike Wall & SPACE.com

The Chang'e-4 lunar probe blasted off last month on its historic voyage to the far side of the moon.

VCG  Getty Images

Humanity just planted its flag on the far side of the moon.

China's robotic  Chang'e 4 mission  touched down on the floor of the 115-mile-wide (186 kilometers) Von Kármán Crater Wednesday night (Jan. 2), pulling off the first-ever soft landing on the mysterious lunar far side. 

Chang'e 4 will perform a variety of science work over the coming months, potentially helping scientists better understand the structure, formation and evolution of Earth's natural satellite. But the symbolic pull of the mission will resonate more with the masses: The list of unexplored locales in our solar system just got a little shorter. [ China's Chang'e 4 Moon Far Side Mission in Pictures ]

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The epic touchdown—which took place at 9:26 p.m. EST (0226 GMT and 10:26 a.m. Beijing time on Jan. 3), according to Chinese space officials—followed closely on the heels of two big NASA spaceflight milestones. On Dec. 31, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft entered orbit around the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, and the New Horizons probe  zoomed past the distant object Ultima Thule  just after midnight on Jan. 1.

"Congratulations to China's Chang'e 4 team for what appears to be a successful landing on the far side of the moon. This is a first for humanity and an impressive accomplishment!" NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said via Twitter Wednesday night, after word of the milestone began circulating on social media.

Terra incognita

It takes the moon about the same amount of time to spin once on its axis as it does for the natural satellite to orbit the Earth: 27.3 days. Because of this "tidal locking," we only ever see one face of the moon, which we call the near side.

This familiar face has welcomed many visitors over the years, both robotic and human; all six of NASA's crewed  Apollo missions  to the lunar surface touched down on the near side. The far side is a much tougher target for surface exploration, because the moon's rocky bulk would block direct communication with any landers or rovers there. (And don't call it "the dark side"; the far side gets just as much sunlight as the near side.)

To deal with this issue, China  launched a relay satellite called Queqiao  in May 2018. Queqiao set up shop at the Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, a gravitationally stable spot beyond the moon from which the satellite can keep both Chang'e 4 and its home planet in sight.

The data flow through Queqiao will likely be extensive. Chang'e 4, which  launched on Dec. 7  and entered lunar orbit 4.5 days later, boasts eight science instruments: four apiece on a stationary lander and a mobile rover. 

The lander features the Landing Camera, the Terrain Camera, the Low Frequency Spectrometer, and the Lunar Lander Neutrons and Dosimetry, which was provided by Germany. The rover has the Panoramic Camera, the Lunar Penetrating Radar, the Visible and Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrometer, and the Advanced Small Analyzer for Neutrals, which Sweden contributed.

Chang'e 4 will therefore be able to characterize its surroundings in great detail, probing the composition of the surface as well as the layered structure of the ground beneath the lander's feet. Such observations could help researchers better understand why the lunar near and far sides are so different, scientists have said. For example, dark volcanic plains called "maria" cover much of the near side but are nearly absent on the far side. (We do have good imagery of the far side from above, thanks to spacecraft such as NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.)

The mission should beam home some intriguing and dramatic imagery as well;  Von Kármán Crater  lies within the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin, one of the largest impact features in the solar system. The SPA basin measures a whopping 1,550 miles (2,500 km) from rim to rim and is about 7.5 miles (12 km) deep.

In addition, Chang'e 4 totes a biological experiment, which will track how silkworms, tomatoes and  Arabidopsis  plants grow and develop on the lunar surface. The mission will also make radio-astronomy observations, taking advantage of the exceptional peace and quiet of the far side. (Queqiao is also gathering astronomy data, using an instrument of its own called the Netherlands-China Low-Frequency Explorer.) [ China's Moon Missions Explained (Infographic) ]

An ambitious lunar program

Chang'e 4 is just the latest step in China's robotic lunar-exploration program, which is named after a moon goddess in Chinese mythology. The nation launched the Chang'e 1 and Chang'e 2 orbiters in 2007 and 2010, respectively, and pulled off a near-side landing with the  Chang'e 3 mission  in December 2013. (Chang'e 4 was originally designed as a backup to Chang'e 3, so the hardware of the two missions is similar.)

China also launched a return capsule on an  eight-day trip around the moon  in October 2014, a mission known as Chang'e 5T1. That was a test run for the Chang'e 5 sample-return effort, which could launch as early as this year.

China also has ambitions for crewed lunar missions, but its human-spaceflight program is focused more on Earth orbit in the short term. The nation aims to have a space station up and running there by the early 2020s.

Copyright 2018  Space.com , a Future company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Home » Home » China’s Lunar Exploration: Achievements and Future Missions

China’s Lunar Exploration: Achievements and Future Missions

By Space Coast Daily  //  May 23, 2024

China’s journey into lunar exploration has seen many notable achievements and ambitious future missions. From the start of its space program to today’s cutting-edge missions, China has continuously improved its abilities and become an important participant in space exploration.

This blog looks at the key moments in China’s moon study history and investigates upcoming plans for exciting moon trips.

Early Steps and Initial Achievements

Chang’e 1: China’s First Lunar Mission

China’s first step in lunar exploration was the launch of Chang’e 1 in 2007. It was named after a moon goddess from Chinese mythology, and this orbiter successfully mapped out and sent back data about our planet’s natural satellite – Moon. This important mission showed that China had now joined other nations exploring beyond Earth’s atmosphere while also showing its ability to carry out intricate space tasks. For more updates follow China Space News

Chang’e 2: Advancing Lunar Science

To progress from Chang’e 1, we sent Chang’e 2 into space in 2010. This mission had two main parts: mapping of the moon became more detailed and flyby around asteroid Toutatis displayed China’s increasing skill with space navigation. The detailed pictures of moon’s surface taken by Chang’e 2 helped improve our knowledge about lunar geology.

Chang’e 3: A Historic Soft Landing

Chang’e 3, which was launched in the year 2013, it marked a significant mission because this is when China succeeded in making its initial soft landing on the moon. The mission involved a lander and rover known as Yutu or “Jade Rabbit” that explored surface of moon by doing scientific experiments there and sending back beautiful pictures to Earth. This mission marked the return of humans to moon, with China becoming the third country to achieve soft landing after United States and Soviet Union.

Recent Milestones

Chang’e 4: Exploring the Far Side of the Moon

China created a new record in 2019 with the Chang’e 4 mission, where a spacecraft landed on the far side of moon for first time. This mission contained both a lander and rover named Yutu-2; it is still exploring around on moon’s surface that faces away from us towards Earth. The achievement of Chang’e 4 has given us never-before-seen knowledge about our moon’s geology and improved understanding about how solar systems formed early in history. The success of the mission was supported by the Queqiao relay satellite, which helped in communicating between the moon’s far side and Earth.

Chang’e 5: Sample Return Mission

The mission Chang’e 5, accomplished in December 2020, was a prominent event for China. This mission managed to gather and bring back lunar samples to Earth, marking the initial time since Luna 24 from Soviet Union in 1976 that such an action happened. The success of Chang’e 5 provided fresh moon material for scientists to analyze. It offered new understanding about what makes up our moon as well as its past history.

Chang’e 6: Aiming for More Lunar Samples

After Chang’e 5, China is now preparing for Chang’e 6 in the year 2024. This mission will focus on the South Pole-Aitken Basin area of Moon which happens to be one among solar system’s biggest impact craters. In gathering samples from this particular location, scientists are hoping to attain a more comprehensive comprehension about mantle of moon and history behind lunar impacts. Chang’e 6 wants to expand China’s understanding about lunar geology and enhance its abilities in returning samples from the moon.

Future Missions: Ambitions and Goals

Chang’e 7: Exploring the Moon’s South Pole

Chang’e 7, planned for the mid-2020s, plans to examine the South Pole of moon. This mission is anticipated to include an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a mini-flying probe. The South Pole holds fascination because it has areas that are always in shadow and might have water ice. Chang’e 7 wants to study the moon’s environment, make a map of its topography and look at how resources like water ice are spread on it.

Chang’e 8: Laying the Groundwork for a Lunar Base

Chang’e 8, which is planned for the late 2020s, will concentrate on checking technologies and performing experiments that are necessary in order to prepare a lunar base. This mission will cooperate with worldwide allies and examine how we can utilize resources found on the moon for an enduring human existence. The methods and technologies created through Chang’e 8 are anticipated to assist in building a research station on top of the moon.

International Lunar Research Station (ILRS)

Together with Russia, China has suggested the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). This plan wants to create a stable and enduring human existence on the moon by 2030s. The ILRS will become a center for doing scientific research, developing technology and cooperating internationally. It will possess life support, energy production, communication and science experiment functions to allow complete lunar exploration and use.

China’s Strategic Vision for Lunar Exploration

China’s lunar exploration program is not only a race to achieve certain technological firsts; it fits into a wider strategic plan. The goals of this vision consist of scientific discoveries, advancement in technology, maintaining national reputation and collaborating globally. China aims to accomplish the following by enhancing its lunar exploration abilities:

Increase Scientific Comprehension: The tasks from China add to worldwide understanding on matters like the moon’s creation and shifts, along with its geological features. The details obtained assist in answering basic inquiries about the moon’s geology and solar system history.

Drive Technological Innovation: The exploration of Moon needs modern technology in fields like robotics, materials science, propulsion and communication. Missions from China are testing these technologies’ limits which could result in advancements useful for more than just space explores.

Increase in International Recognition: Success in space explorations raises the country’s worldwide status and shows its ability as a leading space traveler. Advancements made on lunar exploration also add to the pride of nation and inspire coming generations of scientists and engineers.

Promote Collaboration with Other Countries: To encourage collaboration in space exploration, China can form partnerships with other nations and organizations. This will show how working together is beneficial for all parties involved, just like the ILRS project that allows participating countries to share in the advancements made by everyone.

China’s moon research program has seen big growth in the last twenty years, making history and setting high aims for what is to come. From the first accomplishments with Chang’e 1 and 2 to innovative tasks such as Chang’e 4 and 5, China has shown its capacity and dedication towards exploration of moon. With upcoming missions including Chang’e 6,7,8 along with International Lunar Research Station that is full of vision – it shows how ready China becomes a leader in mankind’s journey for understanding moon while using its resources too. In the coming days, China’s lunar exploration will be a key part of our efforts to learn more about the moon and find new ways for space exploration.

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Race to the Moon:

Chinese Spacecraft Makes Historic Landing on Far Side of Moon

• Mission is first attempt to take material from area to Earth
• Region near lunar south pole may have ice to make oxygen, fuel

China's Chang'e-6 lunar mission rocket prepares to lift off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in south China's Hainan province on May 3.

A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon, boosting the nation’s efforts to compete with the US in a race to send people back to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century.

The China National Space Administration announced that Chang’e-6 “successfully landed at the designated landing area,” the Xinhua News Agency reported Sunday.

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Watch the Moon Landing of China’s Chang’e-5 Spacecraft

Within hours of arriving, it started drilling and scooping lunar rocks and soil to bring back to Earth.

By Kenneth Chang

China released video footage on Wednesday showing the arrival of its Chang’e-5 robotic spacecraft on the moon’s surface . Racing across a landscape sprinkled with craters on Tuesday, the camera pauses momentarily before a breathtaking fall begins. An instant later, a splash of moon dust and a shadow of the lander signaled that the probe’s touchdown was a success.

“Very precise and exciting landing, right in the middle of the most important geologic unit in the broader Chang’e 5 candidate landing region,” James W. Head III, a geological science professor at Brown University, said in an email. Dr. Head collaborated with Chinese scientists on where the mission should go to gather rocks and soil to bring back to Earth

The lander set down, as planned, in a region of the moon known as Mons Rümker, at 10:11 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. The spacecraft is in the middle of a basalt lava plain that is about two billion years younger than the parts of the moon explored more than four decades ago by NASA’s Apollo astronauts and the Soviet Union’s robotic Luna landers.

Within hours of arriving on the moon, Chang’e-5 set about drilling and scooping its lunar samples.

Images from Chang’e-5 show a desolate landscape with gentle rolling hills. A dearth of nearby craters points to the area’s youth.

Scientists are curious how this region remained molten far longer than the rest of the moon. Examination of these rocks in laboratories on Earth will also pin down their exact age, and that will calibrate a method that planetary scientists use to determine the ages of the surfaces of planets, moons and other bodies throughout the solar system.

The lander has already completed its drilling and stored the sample. It continues scooping up some soil around the spacecraft. Once that is complete, the top half of the lander will blast back off into space as soon as Thursday . That will be the start of a complex sequence to return the rocks to Earth.

After it arrived in lunar orbit over the weekend, Chang’e-5 split into two. While the lander headed for the surface, the other half remained in orbit.

The ascent portion of the lander will rendezvous and dock with the piece that remained in orbit. The rocks and soil will be transferred to a return capsule for a trip back to Earth, parachuting to a landing in Inner Mongolia later this month.

Three robotic missions are currently operating on the moon. All three are Chinese . A Chinese mission is also on its way to Mars , where it will attempt the country’s first landing on another planet next year.

No other country has successfully landed on the moon since the Soviet Union’s Luna 24 spacecraft in 1976. Two attempts last year — one by an Israeli nonprofit and one by India’s space agency — ended in failure, with both crashing.

NASA intends to return astronauts to the moon later this decade , but has intermediate plans to pay commercial companies to land robotic payloads on the lunar surface, which could begin next year.

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China’s lunar probe is retrieving samples from the far side of the Moon

C hina’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the Moon — and it plans to bring back soil and rock samples to Earth for the first time.

The probe touched down on the Moon’s South Pole–Aitken Basin, which faces away from Earth, at 6:23AM Beijing time, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). It used laser 3D scanning and an autonomous avoidance system to detect obstacles before landing. You can see the probe make its careful descent to the lunar surface in the video embedded below.

It will take the Chang’e 6 about two days to take the samples from the Moon’s surface using a scoop and drill. The probe is also carrying payloads from the European Space Agency, France, and Italy, which China’s space agency says “will work as planned and carry out scientific exploration missions.”

Once it’s finished collecting samples, the Chang’e 6 probe will launch a capsule containing the material into lunar orbit, where it will link up with the Chang’e 6 orbiter and return to Earth on June 25th.

China landed a spacecraft on the far side of the Moon for the first time in 2019 and later sent the Chang’e 5 spacecraft to collect samples from the close side of the Moon in 2020. Trips to the far side of the Moon are much more challenging, as the Moon blocks communications signals and has a bumpier terrain.

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Craft unfurls China’s flag on the far side of the moon and lifts off with lunar rocks to bring home

In this China National Space Administration (CNSA) handout image released by Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese national flag carried by the lander of Chang’e-6 probe unfurls at the moon’s far side, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth. (CNSA/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, a replay screen shows Chang’e-6 probe collecting samples on the moon surface, at Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP)

This China National Space Administration (CNSA) handout image released by Xinhua News Agency, shows a moon surface taken by a panoramic camera aboard the lander-ascender combination of Chang’e-6 spacecraft after it landed on the moon, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth. (CNSA/Xinhua via AP)

This China National Space Administration (CNSA) handout image released by Xinhua News Agency, shows the lander-ascender combination of Chang’e-6 probe taken by a mini rover after it landed on the moon surface, Tuesday, June 4, 2024. China says a spacecraft carrying rock and soil samples from the far side of the moon has lifted off from the lunar surface to start its journey back to Earth. (CNSA/Xinhua via AP)

In this photo released by Xinhua News Agency, technical personnel work at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center (BACC) in Beijing, Sunday, June 2, 2024. A Chinese spacecraft landed on the far side of the moon Sunday to collect soil and rock samples that could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side. (Jin Liwang/Xinhua via AP)

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BEIJING (AP) — China said its lunar spacecraft unfurled the country’s red and gold flag for the first time on the far side of the moon before part of the vehicle blasted off early Tuesday with rock and soil samples to bring back to Earth.

The mission was hailed as a success in China, which has made significant advances in a space program that aims to put a person on the moon before the end of this decade.

The Chang’e-6 probe was launched last month and its lander touched down on the far side of the moon Sunday. Its ascender lifted off Tuesday morning at 7:38 a.m. Beijing time, with its engine burning for about six minutes as it entered a preset orbit around the moon, the China National Space Administration said.

The agency said the spacecraft withstood a high temperature test on the lunar surface, and acquired the samples using both drilling and surface collection before stowing them in a container inside the ascender of the probe as planned.

The container will be transferred to a reentry capsule that is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region about June 25.

The small flag, which the agency said was made of special composite materials, emerged on a retractable arm deployed from the side of the lunar lander and was not placed onto the lunar soil, according to an animation of the mission released by the agency.

“Mission accomplished!” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying wrote on X. “An unprecedented feat in human lunar exploration history!”

Missions to the moon’s far side are more difficult because it doesn’t face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.

Xinhua said the probe’s landing site was the South Pole-Aitken Basin, an impact crater created more than 4 billion years ago that is 13 kilometers (8 miles) deep and has a diameter of 2,500 kilometers (1,500 miles).

It is the oldest and largest of such craters on the moon, so may provide the earliest information about it, Xinhua said, adding that the huge impact may have ejected materials from deep below the surface.

The mission is the sixth in the Chang’e moon exploration program, which is named after a Chinese moon goddess. It is the second designed to bring back samples, following the Chang’e 5 , which did so from the near side in 2020.

The moon program is part of a growing rivalry with the U.S. — still the leader in space exploration — and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.

China aims to put a person on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so. America is planning to land astronauts on the moon again — for the first time in more than 50 years — though NASA pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.

China On the Moon! A History of Chinese Lunar Missions in Pictures

China on the Moon!

What a difference a decade makes. Only 10 years after China sent its first lunar spacecraft on an orbital mission, the nation accomplished something nobody has managed to do before: plunk a lander, Chang'e 4, on the far side of the moon. Read here about the Chinese missions since 2009 and what the pioneering Chang'e 4, which touched down in January 2019, is expected to accomplish.

FIRST: Chang'e 1

Chang'e 1 launched in October 2007 on a 16-month mission to map the moon. The spacecraft scrutinized the lunar surface, analyzed the composition and depth of the materials there, and also looked at the surrounding environment. The mission fulfilled all of its objectives and controllers deliberately crashed the spacecraft onto the moon on March 2, 2009.

NEXT: Chang'e 2

Chang'e 2, the second Chinese lunar mission, launched for Earth's nearest close neighbor on Oct. 1, 2010. It returned a high-resolution map of the entire moon's surface and took close-up images of the Bay of Rainbows, where mission planners at the time suggested they might put down the country's first lander. Chang'e-2 left the moon's neighborhood in April 2012 to fly by the asteroid 4179 Toutatis , which it reached in December 2012.

NEXT: Chang'e 3

Chang'e 3 was the third Chinese lunar mission and the first to land on the surface. It made a safe landing on the moon on Dec. 14, 2013, at Mare Imbrium, on a site later called Guang Han Gong (Moon Palace). Chang'e 3 took images of the night sky from its perch on the surface, using an optical telescope, and it sent back imagery of the surrounding area as well as of its rover, Yutu. It also discovered a new kind of basaltic rock in 2015.

NEXT: Yutu Rover

Chang'e 3 is most famous for the deployment of its rover, Yutu — the first one to deploy on the moon since 1976. After heading out to the surface on Dec. 14, 2013, Yutu took many images and panoramas that were sent back to Earth, showing the surrounding environment. The rover moved well for a few days in December; by January 2014, after it emerged from the sleep mode it had entered to survive the long lunar night, it appears all drives had stopped. But the rover kept transmitting data until 2015.

NEXT: Chang'e 5 Test 1

Chang'e 5 Test 1

In October 2014, China shifted tracks and launched its first round-trip moon journey , dubbed Chang'e 5 Test 1 mission. The mission was supposed to test the performance of spacecraft items such as its heat shield, guidance, navigation and control. Once analyzed, this information was expected to be included in future lunar-landing missions. The spacecraft also carried some smaller satellites from LuxSpace in Luxembourg and Pocket Spacecraft in the United Kingdom.

NEXT: Chang'e 5 Test 1 Landing!

Landing of Chang'e 5 Test 1

The Chang'e 5 Test 1 mission landed safely in Mongolia on Oct. 31, 2014. Meanwhile, the service module remained in space to run rendezvous tests for the future Chang'e 5 mission, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to Earth. China plans to launch Chang'e 5 late in 2019 and bring back at least 4.4 lbs. (2 kilograms) of samples upon its return.

NEXT: Queqiao Relay Satellite

Queqiao Relay Satellite for Chang'e 4

Since landing on the far side of the moon requires a satellite, China sent the Queqiao relay satellite toward the moon on May 20, 2018. The far side of the moon permanently faces away from Earth, so Queqiao acts as a relay for the pictures and data that the Chang'e 4 mission transmits back to Earth. Queqiao is stationed at a gravitationally stable spot called Earth-moon Lagrange point-2, which is roughly 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) away from the moon's far side.

NEXT: Chang'e 4 to the Moon's Far Side

Chang'e 4 to the Moon's Far Side

Chang'e 4 descended into history Jan. 2, 2019, when it made a safe touchdown on the far side of the moon . The spacecraft landed in Von Kármán Crater, taking pictures of its gentle fall using a descent camera. The lander and its rover will work together to learn more about the moon's radiation environment, surface and subsurface. They also will do radio astronomy, as well as a small biosphere experiment.

Chang'e 4 Far Side Moon Rover

Early images of the far side of the moon from Change '4 showed a dusty environment that will come under great scrutiny in the weeks after landing, which the mission is exploring with the rover Yutu 2. The far side is a more rugged environment in general than the near side , since tidal erosion has been pulling on the moon's near side and smoothing out the features there for eons. However, there are zones on the far side that are safe enough for lunar landings.

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Elizabeth Howell (she/her), Ph.D., is a staff writer in the spaceflight channel since 2022 covering diversity, education and gaming as well. She was contributing writer for Space.com for 10 years before joining full-time. Elizabeth's reporting includes multiple exclusives with the White House and Office of the Vice-President of the United States, an exclusive conversation with aspiring space tourist (and NSYNC bassist) Lance Bass, speaking several times with the International Space Station, witnessing five human spaceflight launches on two continents, flying parabolic, working inside a spacesuit, and participating in a simulated Mars mission. Her latest book, " Why Am I Taller ?", is co-written with astronaut Dave Williams. Elizabeth holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Space Studies from the University of North Dakota, a Bachelor of Journalism from Canada's Carleton University and a Bachelor of History from Canada's Athabasca University. Elizabeth is also a post-secondary instructor in communications and science at several institutions since 2015; her experience includes developing and teaching an astronomy course at Canada's Algonquin College (with Indigenous content as well) to more than 1,000 students since 2020. Elizabeth first got interested in space after watching the movie Apollo 13 in 1996, and still wants to be an astronaut someday. Mastodon: https://qoto.org/@howellspace

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