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Mahesh

26/06/24 06:19 AM IST

China’s Chang’e-6 brings back samples from far side of Moon

In News
  • China’s Chang’e-6  recently became the world’s first spacecraft to bring back samples from the part of the Moon that the Earth never gets to see.
Exploring far side of the 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.
  • The far-side samples can also give answers to the longstanding question: why is it different from the near side?
  • [G]oing to the far side, getting samples and doing different kinds of geophysical measurements is really important to figuring out this really long, long-standing mystery.
Chang'e-6 mission
  • The Chang’e-6 was a 53-day-long mission.
  • After reaching the Moon’s orbit, the mission’s orbiter circled the natural satellite while its lander descended 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 launched an ascent vehicle, which transferred the samples to the orbiter’s service module.
  • This module then returned to the Earth.
Source- Indian Express

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