Fifty years ago, on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, captivating the world. Despite subsequent space exploration, our fascination with the Moon endures.
And now, in a global first, China’s Chang’e-6 mission collected 1,935.3 grams of samples from the moon’s far side.
According to China, the Chang’e-6 mission encountered many challenges, one of which was communicating with Earth from the far side of the moon. To solve this problem, China launched the Queqiao-2 relay satellite in March to provide relay communication support for the mission.
Previous lunar sampling missions all collected samples from the moon’s near side. The Chang’e-6 probe has successfully collected samples from the far side of the moon for the first time, which is expected to provide an opportunity for a more comprehensive understanding of the moon, said Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission.
“As the sampling site was in a huge impact basin, it was possible to collect samples from the deep part of the moon and even from the lunar mantle,” Li said. “The deep materials are very precious and difficult to obtain, and they will provide valuable data for us to understand the internal structure of the moon and its material composition.”
They will also help in the study of the solar system’s early evolutionary history, and promote research on comparative planetology, Li added.
