Super stable! Chang'e 6 successfully landed on the back of the moon

This is a historic moment in human exploration of the moon! In the early morning of June 2, Chang'e 6 successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area of ​​the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, starting the first sample collection mission of a human probe on the far side of the moon, and is about to "dig for treasure in the moon's palace".

At 6:09 on June 2, the Chang'e-6 lander and ascender combination began to implement powered descent, and the 7500N variable thrust main engine was turned on. During this period, the combination made rapid attitude adjustments and gradually approached the lunar surface. After that, the visual autonomous obstacle avoidance system automatically detected obstacles, and the visible light camera was used to select a rough safe point according to the brightness of the lunar surface. It hovered 100 meters above the safe point, and used laser 3D scanning to take precise photos to detect lunar obstacles. Finally, the landing point was selected and began to descend vertically at a slow speed. When it was about to reach the lunar surface, the engine was shut down, and the buffer system was used to ensure that the combination reached the lunar surface in a free fall manner, and finally landed smoothly in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the back of the moon.

This is a simulated animation of the Chang'e-6 lander and ascender landing on the far side of the moon, shot on the screen of the Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center on June 2. Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Jin Liwang

How difficult is it to land on the far side of the moon?

There are great differences in the topography between the front and back sides of the moon. There are more impact craters on the back side, the lunar sea is smaller, and the back side has large undulations, higher terrain, and a rougher ground. There are also great differences in the distribution of elements on the front and back sides of the moon, such as phosphorus, potassium, and rare earth elements. Although humans have conducted more than 100 lunar explorations, there are still many gaps in our understanding of the origin and evolution of the moon. Previously, China's Chang'e-1 and Chang'e-2 conducted orbital explorations of the moon, and Chang'e-4 carried out patrol explorations on the back side of the moon with the lunar rover Yutu-2, accumulating a large amount of data and scientific results on the back side of the moon.

Compared with landing on the front side of the moon, landing on the back side of the moon is a very complex and critical process. In particular, the pre-selected landing area for this mission, the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the back side of the moon, has a drop of more than ten kilometers. It is like successfully landing a small truck in the mountains. Every step cannot be taken lightly and is full of the wisdom and creativity of Chinese astronauts.

Since its launch into orbit on May 3, 2024, the Chang'e-6 probe has undergone a series of key actions including Earth-Moon transfer, near-Moon braking, circumlunar flight, landing and descent, and completed this world-renowned "wonderful landing".

The successful landing on the far side of the moon is just the beginning . The lander will then conduct status checks and settings for the deployment of the solar panels and directional antennas, and then officially begin sampling work on the far side of the moon, which will last about two days. Lunar samples will be collected by drilling and surface sampling, achieving multi-point and diversified automatic sampling.

To enhance international cooperation, the Chang'e-6 mission also carried payloads and satellite projects from four countries, including a radon gas detector from France, a negative ion detector from the European Space Agency, a laser corner reflector from Italy, and a cubesat from Pakistan.

Comprehensive sources: Xinhua News Agency, Guangming Daily, China Academy of Space Technology, etc.