Beijing, China – A Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the far side of the moon on Sunday, marking a significant milestone in the country’s Chang’e moon exploration program. The landing module touched down in a crater known as the South Pole-Aitken Basin, where it will collect soil and rock samples that could provide valuable insights into the differences between this less-explored region and the more familiar near side of the moon.
This mission, the sixth in the Chang’e program, follows a previous successful sample collection mission from the near side by the Chang’e 5 spacecraft in 2020. China’s ambitious space program has been met with growing interest and competition from other global powers such as the United States, Japan, and India.
The goal of the Chinese space program is to put a person on the moon by 2030, which would make China the second nation after the United States to achieve this feat. In comparison, NASA has recently pushed back its target date for landing astronauts on the moon again to 2026. The United States’ efforts to use private-sector rockets for space exploration have faced some delays, such as a recent computer issue that prevented Boeing’s first astronaut flight from launching as planned.
Over the weekend, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the moon due to uncertainty surrounding the development of SpaceX’s mega rocket, which NASA plans to use for its moon missions. The current Chinese mission involves using a mechanical arm and a drill to collect samples from the moon’s surface and underground.
These samples will be stored in a metal vacuum container and transported back to Earth in a re-entry capsule slated to land in China’s Inner Mongolia region around June 25. Missions to the far side of the moon present unique challenges, including the need for a relay satellite to maintain communication since this side does not face Earth directly. The rugged terrain and lack of flat areas for landing also make it more complex.
The South Pole-Aitken Basin, where the Chinese spacecraft landed, is a massive impact crater dating back more than 4 billion years. With a depth of 13 kilometers and a diameter of 2,500 kilometers, this crater is the oldest and largest of its kind on the moon. Scientists hope that the samples collected from this ancient crater will provide insights into the moon’s early history and composition.