The capsule’s return to Earth marks the end of China’s sixth lunar mission since 2007.
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe has returned to Earth with the first rock samples taken from the far side of the moon, marking a major milestone for the country’s growing space program and exploration of the nearest planet.
The capsule landed in the steppes of China’s northern Inner Mongolia region on Tuesday, live images on Chinese state television showed.
China last brought rock samples in December 2020. The United States and the Soviet Union conducted their own missions in the 1960s and 1970s.
However, this is the first mission to provide samples from the side of the Moon facing away from Earth. Scientists hope to provide new insights into the history of Earth’s satellite.
The Chang’e-6 spacecraft lander, named after the Chinese moon goddess, landed on the moon’s south pole – the Aitken area on June 2.
Chinese researchers hypothesize that the returned samples will consist of volcanic rocks that are 2.5 billion years old. The samples may also contain traces of previous meteorite impacts, which could offer clues about how our solar system formed.
The capsule’s return to Earth marks the end of China’s sixth lunar mission since 2007.
The Chang’e-5 mission brought back samples from the near side of the Moon in 2020. Before that, China became the first country to land on the far side when the Chang’e-4 rover explored the terrain there in 2019.
Landing on the moon is extremely difficult. In the recent past, several probes from India, Israel, Japan and Russia have not arrived as planned.
