Image (Credit): The capsule retrieval site in north China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. (Xinhua/Jin Liwang)
It was a good day for China as it became the first nation to successfully retrieve a lunar sample from the far side of the Moon. The Chang’e-6 return capsule safely landed in China earlier today following the mission’s start back on May 3. The sample itself departed the Moon’s surface on June 4.
Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e-6 mission, stated:
A portion of the samples will be stored permanently, while another portion will be stored at a different location as backup in case of disasters. Then we will prepare the remaining portion, and distribute them to scientists in China and foreign countries in accordance with the lunar sample management regulations.
Congratulations to the Chinese people. Hopefully, the entire scientific community can benefit from what the lunar sample tells us.
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)
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