Wenchang. China launched a mission this Friday to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a milestone that is part of an ambitious space program aimed at bringing a manned mission to the Earth’s satellite by 2030.
The rocket took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan province just before 5:30 p.m. (0930 GMT), a journalist from the Afp near the launch pad.
The mission is the latest step in China’s ambitious space program which, according to the United States, is used to cover military objectives and is an attempt to establish its dominance in the Cosmos.
The goal of the Chang’e-6 probe is to collect about two kilos of material from the far side of the Moon and bring it back to Earth for analysis.
The state agency Xinhua called the launch “the first such attempt in the history of Moon exploration.”
It is a technically complex 53-day mission that seeks an unprecedented feat, achieving the takeoff of a device from that part of the Moon that is never visible from Earth.
“Chang’e-6 will collect samples from the far side of the Moon for the first time,” Ge Ping, vice director of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, told reporters.
The ship must land in the immense Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, located at the South Pole.
Once there, it will collect soil and rock samples, and conduct other experiments on the landing zone.
Finally, the probe must take off from the Moon and return to Earth.
“Space dream”
Under President Xi Jinping, China has pushed forward its “space dream.”
In the last decade it has allocated enormous resources to this program and has set ambitious objectives to close the gap with the two established powers in this field, the United States and Russia.
The Asian giant has made notable progress: the construction of the Tiangong (Celestial Palace) space station, the landing of robotic rovers on Mars and it became the third country to take astronauts into space.
By 2030, China wants to send a manned mission to the Moon and also plans to build a base on the Earth’s satellite.
The United States plans to take astronauts to the Moon again in 2026 with its Artemis 3 mission, after several decades since the last expedition.
The rapid advance of the Chinese space program has raised alarm in Washington. The head of NASA acknowledged last month that the United States is now in a “race” against Beijing.
“We believe that much of your so-called civilian space program is a military program,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told US lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
The hidden side of the Moon
Chang’e-6 is only the first of three unmanned missions to the Moon that China plans this decade.
Its successor, Chang’e-7, will explore the Moon’s South Pole in search of water, and Chang’e-8 will attempt to establish the technical feasibility of building a base there.
Beijing estimates that a “basic model” of this base, dubbed the International Lunar Research Station, should be completed in 2030.
Scientists consider the far side of the Moon, which is so called because it is never visible from Earth, although it does receive sunlight, to be promising since its craters are not as covered with ancient lava flows.
This means there is a greater chance of collecting material that offers clues about how the Moon formed.
“The samples collected by Chang’e-6 will have a geological age of approximately 4 billion years,” reported Ge, of the Center for Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering.
“Collecting lunar samples from different regions and geological ages, and conducting experiments is very valuable and significant for humanity,” he added.
China’s unmanned robotic space probe “Chang’e 6” is designed to collect the first-ever samples of soil and rocks from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth. Via Graphic News
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– 2024-05-04 18:32:36
