China embarks on historic mission to return samples from Moon's far side

The Chinese lunar mission that began on Friday, May 3 (in Greenwich Time, Thursday, May 2) seemingly resembles the previous one, in which the Chang'e 5 lander brought 1.73 kilograms (approximately 4 pounds) of lunar soil back to Earth. However, its significance is incomparably greater.

China – for the first time in the history of Moon exploration – wants not only to land on its so-called dark side (which was achieved during the Chang'e 4 mission), but also to collect samples from it, launch, and return them to Earth.

The undertaking is particularly complex because the Moon always shows the same face to the Earth. This results in communication issues, as objects on the far side of the Moon cannot directly communicate with the Earth.

The Chinese plan to overcome this problem with the assistance of the Queqiao-2 communication satellite, which – orbiting the Moon – will serve as a radio signal transmitter, enabling communication with Earth.

This mission is also noteworthy because the landing is planned near a special location such as the vicinity of the lunar south pole. There, structures created billions of years ago by the impact of great asteroids are found: the Aitken Basin impact basin, within which lies the Apollo crater with a depth of about 13 kilometres and a diameter of approximately 537 kilometres.

It is there that Chang'e 6 is to land. The Chinese hope to collect samples of material that ancient collisions ejected onto the surface from great depths, offering insights into the Moon's structure and potentially explaining the likely asymmetry of its geological build.

A practical aspect of the mission is also the search for water, whose resources – in the form of ice brought by comets – may be located in the depressions of the impact basin.