China probe enters Moon orbit

China’s ambitious Chang’e 6 mission has already entered lunar orbit. The landmark is part of the preparation for landing on the far side of our natural satellite

The Chinese Chang’e 6 mission entered lunar orbit on Wednesday (7). Now, it is preparing to land on the far side of our natural satellite, where it will collect around 2 kg of samples. If everything goes well during the 53-day mission, the material will be brought to Earth.

According to information from the China Space Administration (CNSA), the probe released the small Icube-Q satellite into lunar orbit. The idea is that it will make its orbit increasingly circular as part of the preparations for landing on the Moon’s surface.

After entering orbit, Chang’e 6 will work together with the Queqiao 2 transmission satellite to perform orbital correction maneuvers, which are necessary for the landing attempt. Due to tidal blocking, the Moon always maintains the same side facing the Earth; Therefore, it is necessary to use some relay spacecraft to communicate with spacecraft on the far side.

Chang’e 6 is expected to descend to the Apollo crater, located in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. This is an impact crater that measures approximately 2,500 km in diameter and is on the far side of the Moon. Collecting samples from there and studying them can help scientists find important clues about the Moon’s history and evolution.

After landing, Change’ 6 will obtain samples from the surface and material excavated up to 2 km deep. Afterwards, the lunar regolith and rocks obtained will be stored in an ascension module, which will meet the probe in lunar orbit. Then, the samples will be transferred to the reentry module, a component created to resist passage through the Earth’s atmosphere.

Everything going well, Chang’e 6 ends with the capsule landing on Earth, marking another success for the Chinese space program. As the name suggests, Chang’e 6 is the country’s sixth lunar mission and is part of the lunar exploration program, which will attempt to take taikonauts (the name given to Chinese astronauts) to the lunar surface in the next decade.

Source: CNSA

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