KATHMANDU: On Tuesday, the return capsule of China's Chang'e-6 probe successfully landed on Earth, marking a historic achievement as it brought back the world's first samples collected from the moon's far side. The landing took place precisely in the designated area in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, confirming the mission's complete success as reported by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
Chang'e-6 represents one of China's most intricate and ambitious space missions to date. Launched on May 3, the mission involved an orbiter, a returner, a lander, and an ascender. It underwent a series of complex stages including Earth-moon transfer, lunar orbit insertion, and separation maneuvers of its various components.
Facilitated by the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the lander-ascender combination touched down in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon on June 2 to commence its sampling operations. By June 4, the ascender successfully departed from the moon's surface with samples and achieved rendezvous with the orbiter-returner combination in lunar orbit by June 6. After transferring the samples to the returner, the ascender autonomously landed on the moon to prevent contributing to space debris.
Subsequently, the orbiter-returner combination spent 13 days orbiting the moon, meticulously planning its return trajectory to Earth. Following two critical moon-Earth transfer maneuvers and an orbital adjustment, the returner detached from the orbiter and safely delivered the precious lunar samples back to our planet.
Yang Wei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, emphasized the Chang'e-6 mission's profound significance in lunar exploration history. He noted that the new lunar samples are poised to unveil fresh insights into lunar evolution, enhancing our understanding of the moon's geological and scientific mysteries. Yang highlighted the deep cultural ties to lunar exploration in Chinese heritage, reflected in myths such as that of Chang'e, inspiring Chinese scientists to eagerly anticipate the scientific contributions these samples will make.
