A Chinese spacecraft has landed on the far side of the moon and successfully collected soil and rock samples. Associated PressThe goal of the mission is to learn more about the little-known materials on the far side of the Moon.
The lander touched down at 6:23 a.m. Beijing time on Sunday. The China National Space Administration said the lander made contact with the lunar surface in a large crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The landing marks the sixth mission in the Chang’e lunar exploration program, according to the report.
In 2020, Chang’e 5 successfully retrieved samples from the near side of the moon. The moon has become a rivalry for many countries. The United States remains the leader in space exploration, but Japan and India are also investing resources in space.
China has launched its own space station and frequently sends crew members there.
New York Post report Emerging power China aims to send astronauts to the moon by 2030, which would make it the second spaceflight nation after the United States.
The US also wants to send astronauts back to the moon, which would be the first time humans have set foot on Earth’s neighbor in more than 50 years. After initially planning to do so sooner, NASA has said the US wants to send humans to the moon in 2026.
Reuters report “Landing on the far side of the moon is very difficult because you don’t have line-of-sight communications and you have to rely on many links in the chain to control what’s going on, or you have to automate what’s going on,” said Neil Melville Kenny, a technical officer at the European Space Agency, which worked with China on one of Chang’e-6’s payloads.
“Automation is particularly difficult at high latitudes because there are long shadows that can be very disruptive for landers,” he added.
The Chang’e-6 probe was reportedly launched aboard China’s Long March-5 rocket on May 3. It reached the lunar surface about a week later, shortening its trajectory in preparation for landing.
Missions to the far side of the moon are particularly challenging because the moon faces away from Earth, so astronauts are forced to use relay satellites to maintain communications.
Do you like Blaze News? Bypass censorship and sign up for our newsletter to get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here!
