On May 1st, the China National Space Administration announced that the Chang'e-6 mission of the lunar exploration project Phase Four is scheduled to launch on May 3rd.
The launch window refers to the time range suitable for rocket launches. Taking into account factors such as the Earth-Moon position relationship, the engineering team applied the "narrow window, multiple orbits" launch technology for this mission. They designed a total of 10 lunar trajectories for the rocket to ensure the mission can proceed smoothly within 50-minute windows on both May 3rd and May 4th.
Currently, the Chang'e 6 mission has completed the final integrated rehearsal between systems before launch. Various preparations are steadily progressing, and the Long March 5 Y8 carrier rocket that will carry out this launch is about to be fueled with propellant.
What is Chang'e 6 going to do on the moon?
Originally intended as a backup for the Chang'e 5 mission, Chang'e 6 was given a new mission after the success of Chang'e 5. The Chang'e 6 mission will break through key technologies such as lunar retrograde orbit design and control, intelligent sampling on the lunar far side, and takeoff and ascent from the lunar far side, to implement automatic sampling and return from the lunar far side. This will also mark the first time humans have conducted sampling on the lunar far side.
Why is the lunar far side so intriguing?
To date, all 10 lunar sample return missions conducted by humans have been on the near side of the moon. The lunar far side is generally older than the near side and contains the Aitken Basin, one of the three major lunar terrains, making it scientifically valuable.
The preselected landing area for the Chang'e 6 mission is in the lunar south pole-Aitken Basin on the far side, where morphology exploration and geological background surveys will be conducted to discover and collect lunar samples of different regions and ages, enhancing human understanding of the moon.
In addition, according to the China National Space Administration on April 12, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite launched on March 20 has completed in-orbit communication tests. The assessment showed that the relay satellite platform and payload are functioning normally, meeting the mission requirements. It can provide relay communication services for the Chang'e lunar exploration project Phase IV and future domestic and international lunar exploration missions, marking a successful mission. Queqiao-2 will not only provide relay communication services for the Chang'e 4 and upcoming Chang'e 6 missions but also for Phase IV of the lunar exploration project.
Looking ahead, Chang'e 7 is scheduled to launch around 2026 to conduct environmental and resource surveys in the lunar south pole, while Chang'e 8 is planned to launch around 2028 to carry out in-situ resource utilization experiments on the moon.
Let's look forward to these exciting missions together!
