This Friday, China launched a probe to collect samples from the far side of the moon, a world first, in a step forward for the country’s ambitious program. The rocket carrying the Chang’e 6 probe took off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on the tropical island of Hainan (south) shortly before 5:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. GMT), AFP journalists near the scene noted. Hundreds of spectators gathered nearby to witness the latest achievements of the Chinese space program.
State news agency Xinhua called the launch “the first venture of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration.” “The entire mission has multiple tasks, each step is interconnected and nerve-wracking,” Wang Qiong, deputy chief designer of the Chang’e 6 mission, told Xinhua.
It is the latest Chinese project that Washington says disguises a military space program as a civilian program. The goal of the Chang’e-6 mission is to collect about two kilograms of lunar samples from the far side of the Moon and return them to Earth for analysis. This is a technically complex mission lasting 53 days, consisting, in particular, of launching a probe on the hemisphere of the Moon, which is constantly turned with its back to the Earth. “Chang’e 6 will collect samples from the far side of the moon for the first time,” Ge Ping, deputy director of the China Lunar Exploration and Space Technology Center, told reporters.
In 2019, China already placed a device on the far side of the Moon, but did not bring back a single sample. The probe is set to land in the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system. Once there, it will collect lunar soil and rocks and conduct experiments in the landing area. Her mission completed, she must return to Earth and land at the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. President Xi Jinping has given impetus to China’s “space dream”.
Sino-American rivalry moves into space
The world’s second-largest economy has poured billions of dollars into its military space program as it tries to catch up with the United States and Russia. Beijing has already achieved several successes, notably the construction of the Tiangong (Sky Palace) space station, where a new crew of three astronauts was sent last week. – ‘Great significance for humanity’ – China also landed a Mars rover (a small, motorized “all-terrain vehicle”) on Mars and is the third country in the world to send humans into space using its own means.
The United States plans to land astronauts on the Moon in 2026 with the Artemis 3 mission. Beijing also plans to send people there by 2030. China has been excluded from the International Space Station since 2011, when the US and US banned NASA from cooperating. with Beijing. It was then that she began to develop her own space station project. Such rapid progress in the Chinese space program is causing concern in Washington: in April, Bill Nelson, head of NASA, confirmed that the US was now in a “race” with Beijing. “We believe that much of what they call their civilian space program is actually a military program,” he told the House Expenditure Committee in Washington.
Long term project
Chang’e 6 is the first of three unmanned missions to the Moon planned by China this decade. Subsequently, Chang’e 7 will explore the Moon’s South Pole in search of water, and Chang’e 8 will attempt to establish the technical feasibility of building a base on Earth’s natural satellite. Beijing says the “basic model” will be completed. by 2030.
Scientists say the far side of the Moon – so named because it is invisible from Earth, not because it never captures the sun’s rays – is very promising for exploration because its craters are less covered by ancient lava flows than those on near side. side. Therefore, this could mean that it will be easier to collect materials to better understand how the Moon formed.
“The geological age of the samples collected by Chang’e-6 will be about 4 billion years,” Ge calculated. “Collecting lunar samples from different regions and different geological ages and conducting experiments is of great value and importance for humanity,” he added.
Source: Le Parisien
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