China reports successful landing of its spacecraft on the far side of the Moon

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that the Chang'e 6 successfully landed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin at 06:23 Beijing time on Sunday morning (22:23 GMT Saturday). Launched on May 3, the mission aims to collect valuable rock and soil from this region for the first time in history. The probe could retrieve some of the Moon's oldest rocks from a massive crater near the South Pole.

The landing was highly challenging due to the difficulty of communicating with spacecraft on the far side of the Moon. China is the only country to have previously achieved this feat, landing its Chang'e-4 in 2019.

After launching from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, the Chang'e 6 orbited the Moon before landing. The lander component separated from the orbiter to touch down on the side of the Moon that permanently faces away from Earth. During the descent, an autonomous visual obstacle avoidance system detected obstacles, and a visible light camera selected a safe landing area based on the lunar surface's brightness and darkness. The lander hovered about 100 meters above the landing area and used a laser 3D scanner before descending slowly.

The operation was supported by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, according to the CNSA. Chinese state media hailed the landing as a "historic moment," with applause erupting at the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center when the Chang’e 6 touched down.

The lander is expected to spend up to three days gathering materials from the surface, in an operation that the CNSA described as involving "many engineering innovations, high risks, and great difficulty." Professor John Pernet-Fisher, a lunar geology expert at the University of Manchester, expressed excitement about analyzing rocks from a previously unexplored area, which could answer fundamental questions about planetary formation.

The mission aims to collect about 2kg of material using a drill and mechanical arm. The South Pole-Aitken basin, one of the largest impact craters in the solar system, may provide material from deep within the Moon's mantle. Understanding this region is crucial, as it likely contains ice, which could support future human bases on the Moon.

If successful, the spacecraft will return to Earth with the samples, which will be kept under special conditions to preserve their pristine state. Chinese scientists will have the first opportunity to analyze the rocks, followed by researchers worldwide.

This is China's second mission to collect lunar samples; Chang'e 5 brought back 1.7kg of material from Oceanus Procellarum on the Moon's near side in 2020. China plans three more uncrewed missions this decade, aiming to find water on the Moon and establish a permanent base. Beijing's broader strategy includes landing a Chinese astronaut on the Moon by around 2030. The US also plans to return astronauts to the Moon, with NASA's Artemis 3 mission slated for 2026.