China Lunar Probe Chang'e-6 Brings Samples To Earth; Hails Mission A 'Complete Success'
A Chinese probe Chang’e-6 completed the 53-day mission and returned to Earth on Tuesday, with samples from the far side of the Moon. The landing module touched down at a predetermined site in Inner Mongolia at 2:07 pm, according to the China National Space Administration. The agency hailed the mission, the world’s first, a ‘complete success’.
The Chang’e-6 probe took off from the space centre on the Hainan island province on May 3 by the Long March – 5 rocket and reached the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin a month later. The probe used a drill and a robotic arm to scoop up samples, snapped the pock-marked surface, and planted a Chinese flag made up of basalt in the grey soil.
The probe launched on June 4 from the far side was called “an unprecedented in human lunar exploration history” by Xinhua.
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The probe returns with the soil and rock samples from the less explored side of the Moon facing away from Earth. The side has rugged features and is less smooth than the nearby side due to ancient lava flows.
The scientists say that the region is poorly understood and significant to research. The material may help to understand better how the moon formed and how it has evolved.
As per the CCTV report, President Xi Jinping congratulated and said, “The outstanding contributions of the mission command will be remembered forever by the motherland and China’s people”.
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Beijing has poured huge resources into its space program in the last decade to catch up with the space powers of Russia and the United States. It has built a space station, become the third only country to send astronauts into orbit, and landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon’s surface. China will send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and plans to build a base on the lunar surface.
However, the United States has alleged that the Chinese space program masks military objectives to establish dominance in space.
