It was reported that the “Chang’ı 6” rover sent by China to the dark side of the Moon has completed the collection of rock and soil samples. China became the first country to collect rock and soil samples from the dark surface of the Moon.
According to a statement made by the China National Space Administration, the rover, which made excavations on the surface with its probe after landing on the lunar surface on June 2, sealed the samples it collected in the container and transferred them to the ascent vehicle.
In the morning, the ascent vehicle lifted the container containing the samples from the surface into orbit. Thus, the sample collection part of the mission was completed.
In the next stage, the samples will be transferred to the return shuttle in orbit and the return shuttle will bring the samples back to Earth.
Rock and soil samples collected from the dark side of the Moon for the first time
Chang’i 6 is the first exploration mission ever to collect rock and soil samples from the dark surface of the Moon, making China the first country to do so.
The rover, consisting of a satellite, probe, landing and ascent vehicles and a return shuttle, was launched on May 3 from the Vinchang Space Center on China’s Haynan Island.
On June 2, the rover made a soft landing in the Apollo Dish, a crater in the Moon’s South Pole-Aitken Dish.
The dark side of the Moon
Since the speed of rotation of the Moon around the Earth and around itself is equal, the Moon always has the same side facing the Earth. The far side of the Moon, which is not visible from Earth, is called the “dark side”.
The term “dark” refers not to the absence of light, but to the fact that this region is less known than the near side of the Moon.
The Soviet Union’s “Luna” satellite first photographed the dark side of the Moon in 1959, and the Soviet Academy of Sciences published a detailed atlas of the dark side of the Moon in 1960.
The astronauts who participated in the US manned lunar mission “Apollo 8” in 1968 were the first people to see the dark side of the Moon in person.
China is the first country to land a rover on the dark side of the Moon
The exploration missions, named after the moon goddess “Chang’ı” in Chinese mythology, started with the “Chang’ı 1” and “Chang’ı 2” satellites sent into lunar orbit in 2007 and 2010. The exploration missions, which aimed to map the Moon, were intended to prepare for a soft landing on the surface.
In the “Chang’ı 3” mission, the rover exploration vehicle called “Yütu” (Jade Rabbit) was landed on the surface of the Moon in December 2023.
In the “Chang’i 4” mission, China broke new ground by landing the “Yütu-2” rover on the dark side of the Moon in January 2019.
In the “Chang’i 5” mission, China sent its first rover to collect rock and soil samples from the lunar surface. The rover returned to Earth in December 2020 with 1.73 kilograms of rock and soil samples collected after its launch in November 2020.
China plans to continue its exploration activities on the Moon with new missions in the coming years. In this context, after “Chang’ı 6”, “Chang’ı 7” missions are planned to explore the south pole of the Moon in 2026 and “Chang’ı 8” missions are planned in 2027 to verify natural resource capacity and availability and to conduct tests for spaceport construction on the lunar surface.
The country aims to organize manned expeditions to the Moon starting from 2030 and to prepare the ground for further exploration activities by establishing an International Lunar Research Base.
