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HELSINKI – China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft is on its way to Earth to deliver samples collected from the far side of the moon.

The Chang’e-6 service module likely fired its trans-Earth injection engines around June 21. The spacecraft is now on the final leg of its complex, 53-day journey, which includes landing on the moon, collecting samples, ascent and docking. A re-entry capsule containing the unique samples will be released from the service module shortly before arrival at Earth early on June 25.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has not provided an update on any maneuvers to bring the spacecraft out of lunar orbit and home. However, optical and radio amateur observations indicate that the Chang’e-6 spacecraft is heading for Earth.

Observations and data shared by astronomer Bill Gray and others, as well as radio tracking by individuals and groups including Scott Tilley and AMSAT-DL, provide evidence of Chang’e-6’s activities.

Upon return to Earth, the reentry capsule is expected to touch down in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia during a half-hour window opening at 1:41 a.m. Eastern (0541 UTC) on June 25. The information is according to the airspace closure notices. CNSA has not published mission event times in advance.

The re-entry capsule will first skip through the atmosphere to kill some of the high-speed re-entry energy from the Moon before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere.

The retrieval of the samples will allow a thorough study of the composition and evolution of the far side of the Moon. The collected material could provide insight into why the near and far countries are so different, and clues to the history of the early solar system.

Mission milestones

Chang’e-6 launched atop a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang on May 3, reaching lunar orbit just under five days later. Its lander and ascent combination landed at 41.6385°S, 206.0148°E in Apollo Crater in the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin on June 1.

The mission’s ascent vehicle lifted off with up to 2,000 grams of material collected by a shovel and borehole about 49 hours later. The ascent module docked with the Chang’e-6 service module in lunar orbit on June 6. The mission’s sample container autonomously transferred to the re-entry capsule after docking.

The lander deorbited to the moon days later, according to amateur tracking. CNSA has not issued a statement on the fate of the lander, but it will be consistent with the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission protocol.

The Queqiao-2 relay satellite facilitated mission operations on the far side of the Moon. The spacecraft, launched before Chang’e-6, allows communication with the far side of the moon, which, due to Earth’s gravity slowing the moon’s rotation, never faces Earth.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated China on the mission’s progress after liftoff.

The head of the European Space Agency, Josef Aschbacher, also expressed his congratulations to the CNSA. He also noted the success of the cooperation between China and ESA on the Chang’e-6 mission.

This includes the successful collection of data by the NILS (Negative Ions on the Lunar Surface) instrument and the support of the ESA ground station for the early phases of the mission and the return to Earth. However, cooperation between ESA and China in the lunar sphere may be coming to an end.

Beyond Chang’e-6

NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spotted the Chang’e 6 lander on the edge of an eroded crater in the Apollo Crater. LRO captured the image of the lander on June 7 after the lander launched collected samples into lunar orbit.

The landing was only the second on the far side of the moon. It follows the landing of the Chang’e-4 lander mission and rover in 2019. This mission, along with the return of a nearby sample from Chang’e-5, paved the way for Chang’e-6.

After the release of the re-entry module, the Chang’e-6 service will likely fire its engines to avoid re-entry. The spacecraft can then be sent on an extended mission depending on fuel supplies. The Chang’e-5 orbiter visited Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 1 before returning to the Moon to test a far retrograde orbit. Outside parties have once again tracked the extended activities of Chang’e-5.

China’s next lunar mission will be the multi-spacecraft Chang’e-7 in 2026. The Chang’e-8 mission for in-situ resource utilization and technology testing will follow around 2028.

They are described as a precursor to the Chinese-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Launches of super heavy payloads in the early 2030s will build the ILRS. A number of countries and organizations have joined the project.

Before that, China aims to send two astronauts to the lunar surface before 2030.

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