Space travel
China: Probe successfully landed on the far side of the moon

On May 3, the “Chang’e 6” began its 53-day lunar mission. Photo
© Guo Cheng/Xinhua/dpa
The lunar mission “Chang’e 6” is intended to bring rock samples from the far side of the moon to Earth for the first time. China also wants to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030.
According to government sources, China has landed a probe to collect rock samples on the far side of the moon for the first time. As the Chinese space agency reported, a landing module of the space probe named after the Chinese moon goddess “Chang’e 6” “successfully” touched down on the surface. The mission is considered a milestone for China’s ambitious space program. It would be the first time in human history that soil and rock samples would be brought to Earth from the remote far side of the moon.
The mission began at the beginning of May from the Wenchang spaceport on the southern Chinese island of Hainan. After a flight of just over four days, the “Chang’e 6” entered lunar orbit and circled the Earth’s satellite to find a suitable time and place for landing. The probe’s lander will now use a robotic arm to collect two kilograms of rock and soil samples in the moon’s South Pole-Aitken Basin before the “Chang’e 6” is expected back on Earth at the end of June. The lunar mission is expected to last 53 days.
“Direct, first-hand samples from the far side of the moon are essential to better understand the characteristics and differences of the two sides of the moon and unravel the mysteries of the moon,” said Zeng Xingguo, a scientist at the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to Xinhua news agency.
Oldest impact crater on the moon
The landing site of the “Chang’e 6” is the largest and oldest impact crater on the moon. According to the science magazine “Science”, it has a diameter of 2,500 kilometers and is up to eight kilometers deep. Scientists have long wanted to obtain rock samples from this region, as these could potentially provide information about the formation of the moon, the earth and also the early history of the solar system.
It is believed that the basin was formed by an asteroid impact. However, there is disagreement about the exact time: some researchers assume that the basin was formed 4.3 billion years ago, others believe that the impact occurred hundreds of millions of years later, according to “Science”.
As with previous missions, China is also taking instruments from other countries on board “Chang’e-6”. The probe is carrying equipment and devices from France, Italy, Sweden and Pakistan.
This is the sixth lunar mission by the Chinese since 2007. Most recently, “Chang’e 5” brought samples from the front of the moon to Earth for examination in 2020. Only the USA and the Soviet Union had previously managed to do this. In addition, China had previously landed a rover on the far side of the moon for the first time with “Chang’e 4” in 2019 and explored the terrain there.
Valuable raw materials suspected on moon
Attempts to land on the moon are considered extremely difficult. In the recent past, several lunar probes from India, Israel, Japan and Russia have not reached their destination as planned. The Earth’s satellite has become interesting again for many nations because it is believed to contain valuable raw materials. In addition, the current moon mission “Chang’e 6” should also be a useful step for the Chinese space program to gain experience in order to collect soil samples from Mars in the future.
China has been investing billions in its ambitious space program for years and wants to catch up with the USA in this area too. China wants to send a manned mission to the moon by 2030. In the long term, the People’s Republic also plans to build a research station near the south pole of the Earth’s satellite, where valuable raw materials and possibly also water are believed to be found.
Just last week, the Russian news agency Tass reported that the Duma – the lower house of the Russian parliament – had ratified an agreement with Beijing on cooperation in the construction of a permanent lunar research station.
The USA also intends to return to the moon with astronauts more than 50 years after its Apollo missions between 1969 and 1972. After several postponements, the planned manned moon landing of NASA’s Artemis program is now scheduled for autumn 2026. Another moon landing is scheduled to take place in 2028.