HELSINKI — Chang’e-6 will attempt to land on the moon this weekend, marking a critical moment in China’s mission to collect the first samples from the far side of the moon.
Chang’e-6 launched on May 3 and entered lunar orbit just over four days later. Since then, he has been waiting for optimal conditions for his landing attempt. The far side of the Moon, never seen from Earth, holds keys to scientific mysteries related to the Moon’s history and composition.
The mission is aimed at landing in the southern part of Apollo Crater in the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin. The sun began to rise over the crater on the far side of the moon early on May 28.
The landing is now scheduled for approximately 8:00 p.m. Eastern Saturday, June 1 (0000 UTC June 2), according to the European Space Agency (ESA), which is participating via a payload developed in Sweden.
The Chang’e-6 lander will separate from the mission’s orbiter in lunar orbit in preparation for descent. The landing time is determined by the appropriate illumination levels of the lander’s surface and orbit.
If successful, the drop module will go through initial checks and setup. It will then begin to drill and scoop material from the surface. These samples, expected to weigh up to 2,000 grams, will be loaded into an ascent vehicle. The Ascender will then launch the precious payload back into lunar orbit for rendezvous and docking with the Orbiter. Surface operations will last about 48 hours.
All aspects of Chang’e-6 are planned and timed precisely to give the mission a chance of success. Chinese scientists are excited about the prospects of analyzing the samples if they are successfully delivered to Earth around June 25.
“I’ve been analyzing the science data from the Chang’e-4 mission that landed on the far side of the Moon, and I’m constantly excited to have new discoveries from the ongoing data from the rover.” That’s why I’m particularly excited about the Chang’e-6 mission,” said Xu Yi, assistant professor at Macau University of Science and Technology SpaceNews.
“The reasons for the asymmetry in the scale of volcanic activity between the near and far sides of the moon are still the subject of various hypotheses. Chang’e-6 will likely collect lunar samples from a variety of sources, including products of local volcanic activity. Dating and compositional analysis of these samples will provide more ground-truth information about volcanic activity on the other side.
Chang’e-6 spacecraft and payloads
The Lunar Surface Negative Ion Lander (NILS), developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, and the RadoN (DORN) Gas Leak Detector from France will collect data during the lander’s operational period on the surface. An Italian passive laser retroreflector is aboard the lander, which also carries a small rover. The descent module would then suffer damage from the launch of the ascent module, possibly terminating surface operations.
Chang’e-6 also carried a small, jointly developed Pakistani-Chinese university satellite. Icube-Q captured images of the moon and sun after they were launched into lunar orbit.
Since the far side of the Moon is permanently out of sight from Earth, direct communication is impossible. To overcome this, the mission is supported by the Queqiao-2 satellite. This spacecraft operates in a specialized lunar orbit. Its role is to relay communications between Chang’e-6 on the other side and ground stations on Earth.
Based on Chang’e-5’s near-side sample return mission in 2020, the lander and orbiter are likely to rendezvous and dock about two days after launch. The Ascender will be ejected a few more days later. The orbiter will then prepare to leave lunar orbit at an estimated time. It will then release a re-entry capsule just before returning to Earth, around June 25.
Chang’e-5 collected 1,731 grams of samples, less than the expected 2,000 grams due to a probe problem. The samples revealed a number of insights about the moon, its composition and its history. The samples were first made available to Chinese institutions, but access has been extended to international scientists. NASA researchers were also granted permission to apply for samples as an exception to a congressional ban on bilateral activities between NASA and Chinese entities.
Chang’e-6 is part of China’s broader lunar goals. The country will continue with two missions to the south pole of the Moon. These are Chang’e-7 in 2026 and Chang’e-8 around 2028. The country aims to launch its first manned lunar mission by 2030.
Both sets of missions are part of a plan to establish a permanent lunar base. This project is known as the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program planned for 2030. A number of countries and organizations have joined the project.
