On May 3rd, the aerospace industry witnessed another successful launch as China's Chang'e 6 mission was accomplished.
After over an hour of flight, the Chang'e 6 probe's two sets of solar panels successfully unfolded, accurately entering the planned orbit, heading towards the moon (approximately a 4-day journey).
Originally intended as a backup for the Chang'e 5 mission, Chang'e 6 was repurposed after the success of Chang'e 5 to embark on a new mission to collect lunar samples from the far side of the moon and bring them back to Earth, marking humanity's first lunar far side sampling endeavor.
The Chang'e 6 probe, weighing a total of 8.2 tons, consists of four parts: orbiter, returner, lander, and ascender.
Following the lunar transfer, lunar orbit insertion, and circumlunar flight, the lander and ascender combination will detach from the orbiter and returner combination.
The orbiter carries the returner to remain in lunar orbit, while the lander, with the ascender onboard, will opportunistically execute a soft landing in the preselected area on the lunar nearside. Subsequent tasks include automated lunar surface sampling and more.
Chang'e 6 will head to the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon to conduct morphology exploration, geological background surveys, and more. The mission aims to discover and collect lunar samples from various regions and ages, returning them to Earth.
The Chang'e 6 mission also carries the European Space Agency's lunar surface ion analyzer, a French radon gas detector, an Italian laser corner reflector, and a Pakistani CubeSat.
