China will send a robotic spacecraft in coming days on a round trip to the moon\u2019s far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole.<\/p>\n
This week, China is expected to launch Chang\u2019e-6 using the backup spacecraft from the 2020 mission, and collect soil and rocks from the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth.<\/p>\n
With no direct line of sight with the Earth, Chang\u2019e-6 must rely on a recently deployed relay satellite orbiting the moon during its 53-day mission, including a never-before attempted ascent from the moon\u2019s \u201chidden\u201d side on its return journey home.<\/p>\n
The same relay satellite will support the uncrewed Chang\u2019e-7 and 8 missions in 2026 and 2028, respectively, when China starts to explore the south pole for water and build a rudimentary outpost with Russia. China aims to put its astronauts on the moon by 2030.<\/p>\n
On Chang\u2019e-6, China will carry payloads from France, Italy, Sweden and Pakistan, and on Chang\u2019e-7, payloads from Russia, Switzerland and Thailand.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e 6 will attempt to land on the northeastern side of the vast South Pole-Aitkin Basin, the oldest known impact crater in the solar system.<\/p>\n
After touchdown at Malapert A, a site near the south pole that was believed to be relatively flat, the spacecraft tilted sharply to one side amid a host of technical problems, reflecting the high-risk nature of lunar landings.<\/p>\n
The south pole has been described by scientists as the \u201cgolden belt\u201d for lunar exploration.<\/p>\n
Polar ice could sustain long-term research bases without relying on expensive resources transported from Earth. India\u2019s Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008 confirmed the existence of ice inside polar craters.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e-6\u2019s sample return could also shed more light on the early evolution of the moon and the inner solar system.<\/p>\n
Chang\u2019e-6, after a successful landing, will collect about 2 kilogrammes (4.4 pounds) of samples with a mechanical scoop and a drill.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
China will send a robotic spacecraft in coming days on a round trip to the moon\u2019s far side in the first of three technically demanding missions that will pave the way for an inaugural Chinese crewed landing and a base on the lunar south pole. This week, China is expected to launch Chang\u2019e-6 using the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9654,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9652\/revisions\/9654"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/humhindustani.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}