China to launch first probe to return samples from Moon’s far side

AFP | Beijing 

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

China is set yesterday to launch a probe to collect samples from the far side of the Moon, a world first as Beijing pushes ahead with an ambitious programme that aims to send a crewed lunar mission by 2030.

A rocket carrying the Chang ’e-6 lunar probe is scheduled to blast off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan province just before 5:30 pm (0930 GMT), officials have said.

It is the latest leap for China’s ambitious space programme, which Washington has warned is being used to mask military objectives and an effort to establish extraterrestrial dominance.

The Chang’e-6 aims to collect around two kilograms of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon and bring them back to Earth for analysis.

It is a technically complex 53-day mission that will also see it attempt an unprecedented launch from the side of the Moon that always faces away from Earth.

“Chang’e-6 will collect samples from the far side of the Moon for the first time,” Ge Ping, vice director of China’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center, told journalists.

The probe is set to land in the immense South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system.

Once there, it will scoop up lunar soil and rocks, and carry out other experiments in the landing zone. It must then lift off from the Moon’s surface and retrace its steps back home.

Plans for China’s “space dream” have been put into overdrive under President Xi Jinping. Beijing has ploughed huge resources into its space programme over the last decade, targeting a string of ambitious undertakings in an effort to close the gap with the two traditional space powers -- the United States and Russia.

The country has notched several notable achievements, including building a space station called Tiangong, or “heavenly palace”, to which it sent a fresh crew of three astronauts last month.

Beijing has landed robotic rovers on Mars and the Moon, and made China only the third country to independently put humans in orbit.