China's Chang'e-6 space probe has successfully landed on the far side of the moon to collect samples, according to the country's official news agency.
The Chinese Space Agency reported that the unmanned vehicle landed in the Aitken Basin in Antarctica, one of the largest known craters in the solar system.
According to the New China News Agency (Xinhua), this is the first time that samples will be collected from this region of the moon that is rarely explored.
take samples
The probe is carrying out a 53-day mission, which began on May 3. He will spend two days collecting soil and rocks using underground drilling and a robotic arm.
Samples taken from the back side of the Moon can shed light on how the Moon formed.
It is the sixth flight in the Chang'e programme, named after a Chinese national Moon goddess. China's lunar program is part of a growing competition with the United States, Japan and India for space exploration. China has its own space station in Earth's orbit and regularly sends crews there.
Manned flights are suspended
Journeys to the back of the Moon are difficult to carry out because the region is far from Earth, which means you have to use satellites to maintain contact with the ship.
China's goal is to send humans to the moon before 2030, something only the United States has done before.
The United States itself plans to send astronauts to the moon, for the first time in more than 50 years. NASA is now aiming for this to happen in 2026. The original plan was to do it later this year, but the date has been pushed back several times.
“Explorer. Unapologetic entrepreneur. Alcohol fanatic. Certified writer. Wannabe tv evangelist. Twitter fanatic. Student. Web scholar. Travel buff.”
