China’s lunar probe returns to Earth with first-ever samples from the far side of the Moon

The archetypal ungraded samples ever taken from the acold broadside of the Moon arrived connected Earth today. China’s Chang’e 6 spacecraft landed with the precious cargo successful Inner Mongolia contiguous astatine 2:07PM Beijing time, according to state media.

The feat is expected to assistance scientists amended recognize the unfamiliar terrain of the Moon’s acold broadside and possibly shed immoderate airy connected the aboriginal past of the Moon and Earth. It’s besides a important milestone successful the escalating planetary abstraction contention to found a beingness connected the Moon.

President Xi Jinping congratulated the China National Space Administration, calling it a “landmark accomplishment successful our country’s efforts astatine becoming a abstraction and technological power,” according to The Associated Press.

Chang’e 6 landed connected the acold broadside of the Moon connected June 2nd, a hard endeavor due to the fact that the Moon itself blocks vigor signals there. To get astir this, Chang’e 6 relied connected 2 lunar satellites China antecedently launched to facilitate connection betwixt Earth and rovers connected the bumpy aboveground of the Moon’s acold side.

After landing astatine the South Pole–Aitken Basin connected the acold broadside of the Moon, the probe utilized its robotic limb and drilling tools to instrumentality ungraded and stone samples. It besides carried payloads from the European Space Agency, France, and Italy for “scientific exploration.”

The South Pole–Aitken Basin is simply a monolithic interaction crater that apt formed some 4.26 billion years ago. Compared to the smoother adjacent broadside of the Moon, the acold broadside is pockmarked with craters from ancient collisions. How these craters formed and what materials they clasp are important questions for piecing unneurotic the Moon’s history.

“This besides has implications for knowing the origins of beingness connected Earth,” the nonprofit The Planetary Society wrote successful a post astir Chang’e 6 earlier this year, citing a mentation that asteroids mightiness person carried water and integrated materials to Earth during an lawsuit known arsenic the Late Heavy Bombardment. There’s been much scrutiny lately into however fierce that bombardment really was. Long-awaited samples from the acold broadside of the Moon could assistance commencement to reply immoderate of these questions.

China plans to nonstop its Chang’e 7 spacecraft to the Moon’s southbound rod in 2026 to hunt for h2o and different resources that could perchance support semipermanent missions connected the Moon. NASA wants to nonstop the archetypal humans to the lunar southbound rod portion successful 2026 arsenic portion of its Artemis III mission.