The space race for sending humans back to the moon has picked up pace ever more than before. As the top international space agencies like NASA, ESA and Roscosmos are pushing themselves ahead in the moon’s space race, China seems to do the same. CNSA (China National Space Administration) has prepared itself to send a robotic spacecraft to land on the dark side of the moon with the Chang’e – 6 spacecraft.
Let’s go ahead in this blog and learn how China is preparing for landing on the moon’s dark side.
The Moon Race Has Picked Up Pace
The race to reach and inhabit Earth’s nearest celestial body has gained momentum like never before due to advances in technology, international collaboration, and private sector involvement. Signals of a huge surge in global efforts to explore and set up a lunar research base have started to become evident due to the developments in lunar exploration in recent times.
Data from space agencies and private aerospace companies show that over a short period of time, many missions have been planned and executed to study the Moon’s surface. NASA aims to create the Artemis program to return humans to the moon by the mid-2020s, which has made great landmarks such as testing the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion spacecraft.
International partnerships have played a very important part in pushing ahead lunar exploration. The European Space Agency (ESA), among other nations, has been devoting itself to some of the things that are very important to the Artemis project. This has played a key role in enhancing collaboration on the moon’s exploration missions.
This has increased competition and collaboration within the moon missions by countries such as China and India (Chandrayaan-3), who have also stepped up their efforts towards their own programs on the lunar surface.
Chang’e – 6 Robot Spacecraft: China’s Dragon For The Moon
The objective of this mission is to set the stage for a Chinese manned landing mission and to set up South Pole Lunar Base by performing three difficult missions to return China, where Chinese astronauts land on the moon. The world is expecting for the first time, to try collecting samples from the dark side of the lunar body.
China has made significant progress in lunar exploration by reducing the technological gap with the US and Russia since they sent their first Chang’e mission in honour of the Chinese female moon goddess in 2007. In 2020, Beijing succeeded in gathering some soil samples from the near side of the moon, which meant that none had been retrieved by any country since 1969!
This event marked one small step towards proving its ability to bring cargo from the moon without using a crewed vehicle to our planet.
Chang’e-6 Spacecraft Planned Launch
China is planning to send Chang’e-6 to the dark side of the moon by the end of this week. This robotic spacecraft is in the form of a rover, which would use the backup from the 2020 mission. The targeted mission would be collecting soil and rocks. Once orbiting the moon in 53 days, communication with the earth will be supported by the relay satellite around it.
Payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan going to China will all be transported using Chang’e-6. The later mission of Chang’e-7 will be transporting payloads from Russia, Switzerland, and Thailand. Chang’e 6 intends to land at the far corner of the enormous South Pole-Aitken Basin, which is the oldest established lunar impact basin in the universe.
The existence of ice within polar craters holds the possibility of fostering research bases and reducing dependency on expensive earthly resources. In 2008, India’s Chandrayaan-1 mission vindicated that indeed ice exists in the moon’s polar regions. Chang’e-6’s sample return mission would be essential for understanding of early lunar formation and planetary system interiors.
To Summarise
China is planning to send their spacecraft “Chang’e-6” to land on the dark side of the moon. Moon explorations have picked up pace since the beginning of 2020 as countries like India and China have renewed their efforts to send humans back to the moon. NASA and ESA are also giving a push to the Artemis and Orion missions to prove that they’re on top of the space race.
It will be interesting to see the efforts from small but impactful space agencies like ISRO to compete with giants like NASA and CNSA. ISRO’s previous success in Chandrayaan-3 indicates that India has emerged as a powerful space power and is pushing harder towards advanced rocket technologies.
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FAQs
What is China’s latest attempt at lunar exploration?
China’s CNSA is preparing to send a robotic spacecraft, Chang’e-6, to land on the dark side of the moon.
How does Chang’e-6 spacecraft contribute to China’s lunar exploration goals?
Chang’e-6 aims to pave the way for a Chinese manned landing mission and the establishment of a South Pole Lunar Base by collecting samples from the moon’s dark side.
What progress has China made in lunar exploration so far?
Since their first Chang’e mission in 2007, China has reduced the technological gap with the US and Russia. They achieved a milestone in 2020 by collecting soil samples from the south pole side of the moon.
When is Chang’e-6 spacecraft planned to launch, and what are its objectives?
Chang’e-6 is set to launch to the dark side of the moon by the end of this week.
What are the potential implications of Chang’e-6 spacecraft’s mission?
The mission could provide important data for lunar formation and the presence of ice in polar regions.
