China lands on the darker side of the moon which don’t face the Earth on June 2. The Change’6 spacecraft which landed successfully on the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the back side of the moon at 6:23 am Beijing time, as per the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
China has successfully launched in sixth mission to moon “Chang’e 6 mission” on Friday, May 3. This is the first ever attempt in the world to obtain samples from moon. This mission spans around 2 months which aims to explore the rock and soil from the darker side of the moon. At around 5:27 pm (9:27 pm GMT) the Long March -5 Y8 rocket was launched from Wenchang Space launch Centre in China’s Hainan Province. Mission Chang’e 6 is named after the Chinese mythical goddess of moon. The Chang’e 6, would be landing on the South Pole Aitken Basin – which is part of the moon which never faces the Earth and finally it has touched the surface of the moon.
CNSA said, “The Chang’e-6 mission is the first human sampling and return mission from the far side of the moon. It involves many engineering innovations, high risks and great difficulty”. Also CNSA claims, “The playloads carried by the Chang’e-6 lander will work as planned and carry out scientific exploration missions”.
The Chang’e 6 comprises an orbiter, a lander and an ascender. It also has a mechanism which would take it back to the Earth.
This is the first ever attempt in the history of space to obtain the samples from far side of the moon, according to China National Space Administration (CSNA).
After the probe gets separated from the rocket, it would take around five days to reach moon’s orbit. Having landing on moon, the probe would dig upto 2 kg of surface’s extracts and put in a container and will seal it. Having done that, the probe will reconnect with the returner back to the Earth. It is expected to return in around 53 days in China’s Inner Mongolia.
Wu Weiren – the Chief designer of China’s lunar exploration programme told Xinhua (news agency) “Collecting and returning samples from the far side of the moon is an unprecedented feat”.
The mission is very crucial for China and will play a very important role is discovering the history of the darker side of the moon. However, the most challenging part of the mission is “communication” which is very much difficult to be establish in the vaccum in moon’s belt.
Author: Anushka Jaiswal
Anushka Jaiswal is pursuing a degree in journalism and Mass Communication. I am more interested in listening to the podcast rather than reading books. My hobbies include listening to music, journaling philosophical thoughts. From my school days I have taken a keen interest in debate competitions whether it is English or Hindi. I am not much indulged in the sports but I remain active in some of the co curricular activities like cycling, swimming, running, jogging and the like.
