China’s historic mission to the far side of the moon has come to an end, but it left behind a bit of patriotic graffiti.
The unmanned probe, Chang’e-6, blasted off from the lunar surface on Tuesday morning after collecting samples and raising the Chinese flag.
Footage of the probe leaving the object went viral on local social media site Weibo, with people claiming that the mark it left on the ground resembled the Chinese character for “bell.”
“Zhong” is the beginning of the Chinese word for communist country and can also mean middle.
“There are Chinese characters on the dark side of the moon,” CCTV posted on Weibo.
“After collecting samples, the character ‘Zhong’ appeared on the surface of the moon.”
China landed a probe on June 2, becoming the first country to send a space exploration mission to the far side of the moon, also known as the “dark side.”
Chang’e-6 landed in the Antarctic Aitken Basin just before 6:30 a.m. on Sunday and used a drill and robotic arm to collect samples over two days, the space agency said.
The state-run Xinhua news agency described the probe’s re-launch towards Earth as “an unprecedented achievement in the history of human lunar exploration.”
Analysis of the samples will allow scientists to “deepen their study of the formation and evolution history of the moon,” Xinhua reported, citing mission spokesman Ge Ping.
He added that the probe would also provide insights into “the origins of the solar system” and “lay a better foundation for subsequent exploration missions.”
The probe’s 53-day mission began on May 3rd.
The landing site in the basin is one of the largest impact craters known to humanity and could portend important scientific discoveries.
Scientists say the dark side of the moon – so called because it is invisible from Earth, not because it receives any sunlight – offers great promise for study because its craters are less covered by ancient lava flows than those on the near side.
Material extracted from the far side may shed new light on how the Moon formed.
A new space race
China’s “Space Dream” plans are moving forward at a rapid pace under President Xi Jinping.
China has poured huge resources into its space program over the past decade and has undertaken a series of ambitious efforts to close the gap with traditional space powers the United States and Russia.
China has achieved some notable achievements, including the construction of a space station called “Tiangong.”
Beijing has landed robotic probes on Mars and the Moon, and China is only the third country to independently send humans into orbit.
But Washington warns that China’s space program is being used to hide military objectives and attempts to establish space superiority.
China aims to send a manned probe to the moon by 2030 and plans to build a base on the moon.
The US also plans to send astronauts back to the Moon by 2026 on the Artemis 3 mission.
-AFP
