On May 1, according to the "China Aerospace" public account, after comprehensive research and decision-making by the engineering task command, the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project, Chang'e 6, is scheduled to be launched on May 3.
Currently, at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in China, all preparations for the mission are steadily progressing, and the Long March 5 Y8 carrier rocket, which will carry out this launch, is about to be fueled.
This will be the second time the Long March 5 carrier rocket will carry out a lunar exploration launch mission, transporting the Chang'e 6 probe to the Earth-Moon transfer orbit to carry out the mission of sampling and returning from the far side of the moon.
It is reported that based on comprehensive considerations of the Earth-Moon position relationship and other factors, the engineering team has applied the "narrow window multi-orbit" launch technology for this mission. The team has designed a total of 10 lunar orbit paths for the rocket within a 50-minute window each day for two consecutive days.
The Chang'e 6 mission is more complex than any previous lunar exploration, aiming to conduct sampling and return from the far side of the moon, exploring unknown areas for humanity.
After landing on the moon, the probe needs to possess autonomous sampling, takeoff, and ascent capabilities, which pose great challenges due to their difficulty.
The pre-selected landing area for the Chang'e 6 mission is located in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, with the hope of discovering and collecting lunar samples from different regions and ages to enhance human understanding of the moon.
Once successful, China will become the first country to achieve successful sampling from the far side of the moon.
