BEIJING: China started bringing back the world’s first lunar samples from the far side of the moon on Tuesday as part of the Chang’e-6 mission, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The ascender of the Chang’e-6 spacecraft took off at 7:48 a.m. (Beijing Time) from the moon’s surface to dock with the orbiter-returner combo and will eventually bring the samples back to Earth. The 3000N engine operated for about six minutes and successfully sent the ascender into the designated lunar orbit.
The Chang’e-6 lunar probe was launched on May 3. Its lander-ascender combo landed on the moon on June 2.
The probe spent 48 hours and completed intelligent rapid sampling in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon and then encapsulated the samples into storage devices carried by the ascender according to plan.Intelligent sampling is one of the key stages of the Chang’e-6 mission.
The probe withstood the high temperatures on the far side of the moon and successfully collected lunar samples by two methods: surface sampling with a robotic arm and drilling.
Researchers at the ground laboratory used data sent back by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite to simulate the geographic model of the sampling area and the sampling process, providing important support for sampling decisions.
The Chang’e-6 probe works on the far side of the moon, which is always invisible from Earth. So, the probe is invisible to Earth during its entire lunar surface working process. To ensure its normal operation, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite transmitted the signals from the Chang’e-6 probe to Earth. Even with the relay satellite, during the 48 hours that the probe stayed on the lunar surface, there were some hours when it was invisible. –The Daily Mail-CGTN news exchange item
