China launches the Chang’e-6 probe for the first time

On May 3, 2024By Vaseline

By Alimat Aliyeva

China has successfully launched the Chang’e-6 automated space station to collect soil samples from the far side of the moon for the first time in history. Azernieuws reports.

The launch was carried out using the Changzheng-5 Y8 launch vehicle from the Wenchang Cosmodrome on South China’s Hainan Island. The Chang’e-6 automatic space station consists of an orbital, landing, take-off and return module. As part of the international cooperation, scientific instruments from France, Italy and the European Space Agency are on board the lander, and a small satellite from Pakistan is on board the orbital module.

The Apollo impact crater, located in the South Pole-Aitken Basin, was chosen as the landing site on the far side of the moon.
Chang’e-6 will make a soft landing on the moon. The device will collect samples of lunar soil using a drilling rig and a robotic bucket.

After the samples are collected and sealed in a container, the launch module will leave the moon and dock with the orbiter in lunar orbit. The return module will then return the samples to Earth and land in northern China, in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. The entire mission is expected to last 53 days. Chang’e-6, which will be on the far side of the moon, will be linked to Earth by the Qiuqiao-2 relay satellite.

On November 24, 2020, the Changzheng-5 launch vehicle was launched from the Wenchang Cosmodrome on Hainan Island. She sent the spacecraft Chang ‘e-5 to the moon, which returned to Earth about 23 days after launch and collected about 2 kg of lunar soil for research by Chinese specialists, both for scientific purposes and for a project in preparation for the construction of a spaceship. research base.

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