China launched an uncrewed lunar mission Friday that aims to bring back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time, in a potentially major step forward for the country\u2019s ambitious space program. <\/p>\n
The Chang\u2019e-6 probe \u2013 China\u2019s most complex robotic lunar mission to date \u2013 blasted off on a Long March-5 rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China\u2019s Hainan island, where space fans had gathered to watch the historic moment. The country\u2019s National Space Administration said the launch was a success. <\/p>\n
The launch marks the start of a mission that aims to be a key milestone in China\u2019s push to become a dominant space power with plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and build a research base on its south pole. <\/p>\n
It comes as a growing number of countries, including the United States, eye the strategic and scientific benefits of expanded lunar exploration in an increasingly competitive field. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s planned 53-day mission would see the Chang\u2019e-6 lander touch down in a gaping crater on the moon\u2019s far side, which never faces Earth. China became the first and only country to land on the moon\u2019s far side during its 2019 Chang\u2019e-4 mission. <\/p>\n
Any far-side samples retrieved by the Chang\u2019e-6 lander could help scientists peer back into the evolution of the moon and the solar system itself \u2013 and provide important data to advance China\u2019s lunar ambitions. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chang\u2019e-6 aims to achieve breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the moon\u2019s retrograde orbit, intelligent sampling, take-off and ascent technologies, and automatic sample-return on the far side of the moon,\u201d Ge Ping, deputy director of the China National Space Administration\u2019s (CNSA) Center of Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering said last week from the launch site. <\/p>\n
The Chang\u2019e-6 probe will be a key test for China\u2019s space capabilities in its effort to realize leader Xi Jinping\u2019s \u201ceternal dream\u201d of building the country into a space power. <\/p>\n
China has made rapid space advancements in recent years, in a field traditionally led by the United States and Russia. <\/p>\n
With the Chang\u2019e program, launched in 2007 and named for the moon goddess of Chinese mythology, China in 2013 became the first country to achieve a robotic lunar landing in nearly four decades. In 2022, China completed its own orbital space station, the Tiangong. <\/p>\n
The technically complex Chang\u2019e-6 mission builds on both the Chang\u2019e-4\u2019s 2019 record of landing on the far side of the moon, and Chang\u2019e-5\u2019s 2020 success returning to Earth with near-side moon samples. <\/p>\n
This time, to communicate with Earth from the moon\u2019s far side, Chang\u2019e-6 must rely on the Queqiao-2 satellite, launched into lunar orbit in March. <\/p>\n
The probe itself is composed of four parts: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a reentry module. <\/p>\n
The mission plan is for the Chang\u2019e-6\u2019s lander to gather moon dust and rocks after touching down in the sprawling, roughly 2,500-kilometer diameter South Pole-Aitken basin, a crater formed some 4 billion years ago. <\/p>\n
An ascender spacecraft would then transport the samples to the lunar orbiter for transfer to the reentry module and the mission\u2019s return to Earth. <\/p>\n
The complex mission \u201cgoes through virtually every step\u201d that will be required for Chinese astronauts to land on the moon in the years ahead, according to James Head, a professor emeritus at Brown University who has collaborated with Chinese scientists leading the mission. <\/p>\n
In addition to returning samples that could yield \u201cfundamental new insights into the origin and early history of the moon and solar system,\u201d the mission also serves as \u201crobotic practice for these steps\u201d to get astronauts to the moon and back, he said. <\/p>\n
China plans to launch two more missions in the Chang-e series as it nears its 2030 target of sending astronauts to the moon before building a research station in the following decade on the lunar south pole \u2013 a region believed to contain water ice. <\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e-7, scheduled for 2026, will aim to search for resources on the moon\u2019s south pole, while Chang\u2019e-8 roughly two years later could look at how to utilize lunar materials to prepare for building the research base, Chinese officials have said. <\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s launch comes as multiple nations ramp up their lunar programs amid a growing focus on the potential access to resources and further deep space exploration access that successful moon missions could bring. <\/p>\n
Last year, India landed its first spacecraft on the moon, while Russia\u2019s first lunar mission in decades ended in failure when its Luna 25 probe crashed into the moon\u2019s surface. <\/p>\n
In January, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the moon, though its Moon Sniper lander faced power issues due to an incorrect landing angle. The following month, IM-1, a NASA-funded mission designed by Texas-based private firm Intuitive Machines, touched down close to the south pole. <\/p>\n
That landing \u2013 the first by a US-made spacecraft in over five decades \u2013 is among several planned commercial missions intended to explore the lunar surface before NASA attempts to return US astronauts there as soon as 2026 and build its scientific base camp. <\/p>\n
NASA administrator Bill Nelson last month appeared to acknowledge that China\u2019s pace \u2013 and concerns about its intentions \u2013 were driving the American urgency to return to the moon, decades after its Apollo-crewed missions. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space program is a military program. I think in effect we are in a race,\u201d Nelson told lawmakers last month, adding his concern that China could try to bar the US or other countries from certain lunar areas if they arrive there first. <\/p>\n
China has long said it stands for the peaceful use of space, and, like the US, has looked to use its space prowess to cultivate international goodwill. <\/p>\n
This time, China has said the Chang\u2019e-6 mission carries scientific instruments or payloads from France, Italy, Pakistan and the European Space Agency. <\/p>\n
\u201cChina hopes to strengthen cooperation with its international counterparts and deepen international cooperation in the space field,\u201d Ge of the CNSA told reporters a day ahead of the launch. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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