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Mahesh

05/05/24 20:48 PM IST

Chang’e-6 mission

In News
  • Recently,China launched its second mission to the far side of the Moon.
  • If successful, it will be the world’s first mission to bring back samples from the part of the Moon that the Earth never gets to see.
Exploring Moon
  • The Moon’s far side is often referred to as the dark side because it cannot be seen from the Earth, not because it does not catch the Sun’s rays.
  • The Moon is tidally locked with the Earth and therefore, we see only one side of the Moon, also known as the near side.
  • The far side has been under the spotlight in recent years as it is very different from the near side.
  • It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed.
  • Examining the samples from the far side can help scientists solve mysteries about the origin and evolution of the Moon — till now, scientists have only been able to analyse samples from the near side.
Mission :aim & objectives
  • The Chang’e-6 is a 53-day-long mission.
  • After reaching the Moon’s orbit, the mission’s orbiter will circle the natural satellite while its lander will descend into the 2,500-kilometre-wide South Pole-Aitken basin on the lunar surface.
  • The impact that created the basin — among the largest in the history of the solar system — is thought to have dug up material from the lunar mantle.
  • If that material can be retrieved, scientists can learn more about the history of the Moon’s insides.
  • After collecting samples through scooping and drilling, the lander will launch an ascent vehicle, which will transfer the samples to the orbiter’s service module.
  • This module will then return to the Earth.
  • China is the only country to achieve a soft-landing on the far side of the Moon.
  • In 2019, its Chang’e-4 mission landed on the region and explored the Moon’s Von Karman crater with the help of a rover.
Source- Indian Express

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