Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Image credit: CNSA/CLEP

Image credit: CNSA/CLEP

Artwork depicts China’s Change’-6 lander/ascender on the Moon.
Image credit: CNSA

In a “groundbreaking” mission, China’s Chang’e-6 Moon lander wrapped up two days of drilling and scooping at its far side lunar landing spot.

The 8.35-metric-ton, multi-pronged Chang’e-6 mission involves an orbiter, a returner, a lander, and an ascender, built by the Beijing-based China Academy of Space Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Given successful stowage of the lunar collectibles onboard the lander/ascender, the mission’s ascender rocketed off the lunar surface, headed for a rendezvous with the mission orbiter circling the Moon.

Prior to the ascent vehicle departure with its cache of collectibles, a small rover (with a wifi camera), traversed away from the lander, taking a photo of the lander + ascent vehicle combination.

If all goes well, a June 25 return capsule stuffed with the assortment of samples will parachute to Earth.

Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Sealed for sendoff

The Chang’e-6 probe touched down at roughly 06:23 (Beijing Time) Sunday in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin.

The Chang’e-6 spacecraft departed the southern Chinese island province of Hainan on May 3, starting a projected 53-day mission to collect and bring back samples from the Moon’s far side.

As planned, the lander/ascender used a robotic arm and a drill to collect surface and underground substances. They were then placed in a container that was sealed for sendoff into lunar orbit, slated for transfer into a returner craft for the trek to Earth.

Image credit: James Head

According to Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission, the lander/ascender combination touched down precisely at the designated area, a locale likely to be basalt-rich and of important scientific value in unraveling the Moon’s past.

Simulation lab

Jin Shengyi from the CASC explained to Chinese media outlets that the Chang’e-6 probe development team has built a simulation lab to ensure a smooth sampling process.

Artwork credit: CNSA/CCTV

A full-scale replica of the sampling area in view of the Chang’e-6 lander/ascender reportedly mimics rock distribution, and lunar soil conditions around the landing site. The simulated site here on Earth is geared to develop and verify sampling strategies and equipment control procedures.

Even with China’s Queqiao-2 relay satellite service, the far side sampling time of Chang’e-6 is reduced to about 14 hours, contrasted with the 22 hours used by its predecessor, China’s Chang’e-5 Moon sampling mission in the winter of 2020.

Image taken during 2020 mission of Chang’e-5 lunar sample project. Image credit: CNSA/CLEP

Chang’e-5 landed on the Moon’s near side and gathered 1,731 grams of samples, the first lunar substances obtained since NASA’s Apollo missions to the Moon by astronauts ended in December 1972.

China is the third nation, after the former Soviet Union and United States, to have brought back to Earth collected lunar specimens.

Autonomous, onboard intelligence

The sampling process utilized by Chang’e-6 involved autonomous, onboard intelligence and relyed on real-time data collected by lander/ascender sensors – thereby reducing Earth-Moon control interaction and instruction.

Soon after the Chang’e-6 touchdown, the craft’s solar panels and directional antennas unfolded, initial checks and setup were performed, followed by operation of lunar sampling hardware.

Image credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab

European experiments

Meanwhile, also turned on were two European scientific experiments carried by the Chang’e-6 landing craft — a radon-measuring instrument from France’s national space agency and a dedicated negative ion instrument developed by the Swedish Institute of Space Physics with support from the European Space Agency.

The Detection of Outgassing RadoN (DORN) was developed by French scientists. It will detect radon isotopes and study the transmission and diffusion mechanisms of volatile compounds in the lunar environment.

Witnessing the progress of the Chang’e-6 mission in Beijing was Pierre-Yves Meslin, principal investigator of DORN from France. This first time measurement is expected to advise researchers on how radon might move from warm to cold regions of the Moon.