China launched the Chang’e 6 crewless moon mission on Friday. The mission aims to bring back samples from “the far side of the moon” for the first time, an important step in the country’s ambitious space program.
The Chinese probe Chang’e 6 was shot into the sky at 11:27 a.m. Belgian time, aboard a Long March 5 rocket. China wants to be the first country ever to collect soil samples from the “far side of the moon”. That side of the moon can never be seen from Earth, because the moon rotates around its axis as quickly as the moon rotates around the Earth. China was the first and only country to land on the “back of the moon” during the Chang’e-4 mission in 2019.
In about 20 days, Chang’e-6 should land in a large crater near the moon’s south pole. The South Pole-Aitken Basin is one of the largest and oldest craters in our solar system. If all goes according to plan, the mission will last 53 days. The soil samples obtained can then be used to gain insight into the formation of the moon and the solar system.
Space race
China has been striving for dominance in space for years, but faces stiff competition from countries such as the United States and Russia. In recent years, China has been investing heavily in the ‘space race’: the country wants to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and build a base on the moon’s south pole.
