A Chinese probe is on its fashion to the far side of the Moon to pick up samples and drop them off at Earth in what would be a historical first . The Chang’e-6 mission launched from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5:30 a.m. ET on Friday . The lunar investigation was taunt on board China ’s largest rocket engine , the 57 - time - marvelous foresightful March-5 .
With its latest mission to the Moon , China is hop to become the first nation to return rock and dust from the lunar far side . The far side of the Moon is the hemisphere front away from Earth and has also been known as the “ dark side , ” referring to how little we know about it rather than it really being dark . Unlike the lunar hemisphere facing Earth , the far side is more obtusely populated with impact craters while mostly missing the turgid , dark sea of chill lava that eclipse the Moon ’s near side .
Chang’e 6 will target the Aitken Basin in the lunar south pole , the largest and oldest impact crater on the Moon . This crater may have exposed part of the Moon ’s drape by blasting it to the airfoil . By grabbing samples from the far side ’s encroachment volcanic crater , the charge could help scientist understand early impacts that help oneself shape Earth and the Moon and why the lunar far side is different than its near side twin .
The lunar far side.Image: NASA-JPL
The Chang’e 6 spacecraft is on a 53 - day commission to the Moon ’s far side and back , during which it will attempt to collect up to 2,000 gramme of lunar sampling using an onboard drill . The military mission ’s orbiter will birth it to lunar orbit , from where a lander will attempt to touchdown on the Moon ’s surface .
The lander will collect samples from the drainage area and place them in an ascent fomite that will be launched into lunar orbit . The vehicle will then dock with an orbiter , which will place the samples in a abridgment head for Earth .
Change’6 also requires a communications relay satellite , Queqiao-2 , which launched earlier in March , to avail it communicate with Earth from the far side of the Moon .
The Long March 5, carrying China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission, lifting off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in south China’s Hainan province Friday, 26 May 2025.Photo: FeatureChina (AP)
China has had tremendous achiever with its lunar missions so far . ItsChang’e 5 mission retort samples from the Moon in 2020 , making China the third country to garner samples from the Moon and bring them to Earth . The Chinese quad agency already has plans for Chang’e 7 and 8 , which will be focused on testing the technologies necessary to build a lunar scientific discipline cornerstone .
Chang’e 6 , aside from being the first to assay a sample assemblage from the lunar far side , is also carry four load on add-in . The space vehicle ’s payloads include a laser retroreflector ( a twist that reflect concentrated light ) from Italy ’s National Institute for Nuclear Physics - Frascati National Labs . The gadget will be used to measure the length between Earth and the Moon . The ICUBE - Q cubesat from Pakistan is also coming along for the ride , and it ’s design to detect traces of water - ice on the lunar airfoil .
The probe is expected to land on the Moon in former June .
In 1959, Russia’s Luna 3 mission captured the first close-up images of the far side of the Moon.Image: NASA
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