Image (Credit): The Chang’e 6 stacked in the clean room here on Earth before its successful launch to the Moon. (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)
Yesterday, China successfully landed on the Moon again, this time on the far side with its Chang’e 6 mission. The probe is now in the unexplored South Pole region where it can study the lunar surface.
If all goes well, collected samples from this area will be returned to Earth for additional study. The Chang’e-6 mission includes an orbiter, a returner, a lander and an ascender.
China already returned a lunar sample successfully back in 2020 as part of its Chang’e 5 mission.
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Flexible Levitation on a Track system on the lunar surface with planet Earth on the horizon. (NASA/Ethan Schaler)
As the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) readies to return astronauts to the moon, it has announced its plans to build a levitating robot train on the lunar surface. In a blog post, the American space agency provided details about the project called “Flexible Levitation on a Track (FLOAT)”, which aims to provide a “robotic transport system” to support future lunar activities of astronauts visiting the moon. The transport system will be critical to the daily operation of a sustainable lunar base in the 2030s, NASA said in a statement.
A changing of the guard in space stations is on the horizon as private companies work toward providing new opportunities for science, commerce, and tourism in outer space. Blue Origin is one of a number of private-sector actors aiming to harbor commercial activities in low Earth orbit (LEO) as the creaking and leaking International Space Station (ISS) approaches its drawdown. Partners in Blue Origin’s Orbital Reef program, including firms Redwire, Sierra Space, and Boeing, are each reporting progress in their respective components of the program. The collaboration itself may not be on such strong ground. Such endeavors may also end up slowed and controlled by regulation so far absent from many new, commercial areas of space.
Details about joint plans between Moscow and Beijing to put a lunar nuclear reactor within the next decade have been revealed by the head of Russia’s space agency. In March, Roscosmos announced plans to work with China to build an automated nuclear reactor to power a proposed lunar base that the two countries would operate together within the next decade. To construct the site, Roscosmos director general Yury Borisov said two months ago it was looking at using nuclear-powered rockets to transfer cargo to the moon, but had not yet figured out how to build these spacecraft safely. In an article published Wednesday by state news outlet RIA Novosti, Borisov said that development of the plant was underway and the countries were working on creating experimental and research facilities as part of the project.
Image (Credit): China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province prior to the launch on Friday. (CNSA)
Last Friday, China launched the Chang’e-6 lunar probe towards the moon with the goal of returning the first lunar soil sample from the far side of the Moon. An earlier mission in 2020, Chang’e-5, successfully returned lunar soil samples from the near side of the Moon for the first time in 44 years. Before that, in 2019, China place a rover on the far side of the Moon via the Chang’e-4 mission.
China is making some bold strides in space with, it might be added, some help from the Europeans. While the US bans any cooperation with the Chinese, France, Italy and Sweden have contributed to the Chang’e-6 mission. For example, Sweden added the Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface (NILS) instrument to the lunar probe.
Maybe one day we can join the Chinese on some of these missions, but that day seems to be far away. That said, we were able to find a way with the Russians, which allowed for the ongoing success of the International Space Station.
Image (Credit): April 25, 2024 launch of the Shenzhou 18 mission to the Tiangong space station. (CMSA)
This week’s image shows today’s launch of three astronauts to China’s Tiangong space station on the Shenzhou 18 mission aboard a Long March 2F rocket. The crew successfully reached the space station 6.5 hours after launch.
One of the new crew members has already spent 182 days in orbit aboard the Tiangong space station. The Tiangong space station has been continuously crewed since June 2022.
Image (Credit): Shenzhou 18 crew members Li Cong, commander Ye Guangfu and Li Guangsu. Guangfu has logged 182 days in orbit during a stay aboard the Tiangong space station in 2021-22. (CMSA)
Image (Credit): China’s Tiangong space station captured by a returning Shenzhou spacecraft. (CMSA)
China is getting ready to send a new crew to its Tiangong space station tomorrow. The Shenzhou-18 spacecraft will carry three new crew members to the station, replacing the crew that has been on the station since last October.
The current crew had to deal with space debris that damaged its solar panels and led to a power loss. Two spacewalks were recently conducted to make the necessary repairs. The arriving crew is coming with additional repair material, including “space debris protection reinforcements for extravehicular piping, cables and critical equipment,” according to China Daily.
Unfortunately, space debris is a constant hazard in orbit. The International Space Station (ISS) has dodged debris as well as repairing damaged areas. Of course, the ISS is also dropping space debris on Florida, but that’s a different story.
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