China announces the launch of the Chang’e 6 lunar mission for this Friday

The National Space Administration China (CNSA) announced the launch of the Chang’e 6 mission for this Friday. The space probe will launch from the Wenchang space launch site, in the southern province of Hainan, using a Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket, the agency reported in recent hours.

This mission’s main objective is to become the first to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a barely explored region that has aroused great interest in the international scientific community.

Chang’e 6 is destined for the Aitken-South Pole Basin, an area with unique geological characteristics that could shed light on the origins and evolution of our natural satellite.

Preparations for the launch are in their final phase, with the completion of a final test that has covered all relevant systems.

Chinese authorities have strengthened the weather forecasting system to ensure a successful launch, and have designed 10 alternative trajectories to make the most of the narrow launch window, which consists of two days and 50 minutes each.

The Chang’e 6 probe is composed of four components: an orbiter, a lander, an elevator and a reentry module. The elevator will have the crucial function of transporting lunar samples collected by the lander to the lunar orbiter.

Once there, the samples will be transferred to the reentry module, which will take them back to Earth for analysis in laboratories. With this mission, China joins a select group of countries that have managed to collect lunar samples, following in the footsteps of the United States and the former Soviet Union.

However, Chang’e 6 marks an unprecedented milestone by being the first to explore and obtain samples from the far side of the Moon. One of the key developments of this mission was the launch of the Queqiao 2 relay satellite on March 20.

This satellite will facilitate communication between the Chang’e 6 probe and Earth, ensuring efficient data transmission. The most recent Chinese lunar probe, Chang’e 5, traveled to the satellite in 2020, where it collected 1,731 grams of soil samples.

The Chang’e program (named after a goddess who according to Chinese legends lives on the Moon) began with the launch of a first probe in 2007.

In recent years, Beijing has invested heavily in its space program and has achieved milestones such as the successful landing of Chang’e 4 on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, an achievement that no country had achieved to date.

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