On Tuesday, a capsule carrying soil from the far aspect of the moon will parachute into the desert in China’s Interior Mongolia area.
The pattern, retrieved by the Chinese language Nationwide Area Administration’s Chang’e-6 lander, is predicted to be the newest accomplishment in a collection of near-flawless executions of Chinese language lunar exploration missions since 2007.
Right here’s what it’s essential to know concerning the Chang’e-6 mission’s return to Earth.
When is the touchdown, and the way can I watch it?
China’s area company has but to substantiate when the mission will conclude.
However in accordance with NASA’s Goddard Area Flight Heart, the Chang’e-6 pattern return capsule is predicted to land at 1:41 a.m. Jap time, which is 1:41 p.m. native time within the Siziwang Banner space of Interior Mongolia, a area in northern China.
The Instances will share an embedded reside video stream if the Chinese language area company offers one nearer to the anticipated touchdown time.
What’s the far aspect of the moon?
Don’t name it the darkish aspect of the moon, for starters — it will get loads of daylight.
However if you lookup on the sky from Earth, you solely ever see one aspect of the moon, the close to aspect. Its face is blotched with vast, darkish plains the place historical lava as soon as flowed.
The far aspect of the moon — the half hidden to us on Earth — is totally different. It has fewer of these plains, extra craters and a thicker crust, although scientists aren’t positive why.
It is probably not a thriller for much longer. China has landed two missions there aiming to check why it’s so totally different from the close to aspect.
What’s China’s Chang’e program?
Named after the Chinese language moon goddess Chang’e (pronounced “chong-uh”), China’s lunar exploration program was initially designed with three phases: orbiting, touchdown and sampling. The primary two spacecraft, Chang’e-1 and a couple of, circled the moon, snapping pictures of and mapping its floor. Chang’e-3 landed on the lunar close to aspect in 2013, and in 2019, Chang’e-4 achieved the identical on the far aspect. Rovers from each missions then studied the lunar floor extra intently.
One 12 months later, Chang’e-5 touched down and gathered almost 4 kilos of lunar regolith that had been then launched to Earth. The mission made China the third nation — after the USA and the Soviet Union — to retrieve a pattern from the moon.
What has occurred throughout Chang’e-6 to date?
Chang’e-6 launched on Might 3 with even grander plans: bringing again materials from the far aspect of the moon. As a result of this half by no means faces Earth, it’s inconceivable to instantly talk with landers on the lunar far aspect, making it troublesome to achieve efficiently. The Chinese language area company used two satellites that orbit the moon, Queqiao and Queqiao-2, to stay in contact with Chang’e-6 through the mission.
The spacecraft spent just a few weeks in lunar orbit, then landed on the moon in June. It descended to a web site on the fringe of the South Pole-Aitken basin, the oldest, deepest influence crater on the moon.
Geared up with a mechanical scoop and a drill, Chang’e-6 spent two days gathering lunar rock and dirt from its environment and the moon’s subsurface. These samples had been then stashed away within the spacecraft. A small rover hooked up to the spacecraft’s aspect took an image of the lander with a raised Chinese language flag.
Then on June 3, a rocket on the spacecraft lifted off, sending the samples into orbit across the moon. The supplies then reunited on June 6 with a spacecraft that had remained in orbit and ready to start the journey again to Earth.
A while on Tuesday, the pattern container will try to re-enter Earth’s ambiance. If the mission is as profitable as Chang’e-4, China will get better the supplies, and the scientific analysis of their contents will start.
