Chang'e 6 is launched today! Reviewing Chang'e's 17-year lunar exploration feat!

On May 1, the National Space Administration released the latest news. After comprehensive analysis and decision-making by the Engineering Mission Command, the Chang'e-6 mission of the fourth phase of the lunar exploration project is scheduled to be launched on May 3. The launch window refers to the time range suitable for rocket launches.

Based on comprehensive consideration of factors such as the relationship between the Earth and the Moon, the engineering team applied the "narrow window multi-orbit" launch technology to design a total of 10 lunar orbits for the rocket within a window of 50 minutes each day for two consecutive days on May 3 and May 4, to ensure the smooth progress of the mission.

At present, the Chang'e-6 mission has completed the last inter-system full-area joint rehearsal before launch, and various preparations are progressing steadily. The Long March 5 Yao-8 carrier rocket that will carry out this launch is about to be filled with propellant. This is the second time that the Long March 5 carrier rocket has carried out a lunar exploration project launch mission, which will transport the Chang'e-6 probe to the Earth-Moon transfer orbit to implement the lunar backside sampling and return mission.

17 years, continuous breakthroughs in lunar exploration!

my country's lunar exploration project was launched in January 2004 and named the "Chang'e Project". It is another milestone in the development of my country's space industry after the success of artificial earth satellites and manned space flights, and it has opened an era in which Chinese people go into deep space to explore the mysteries of the universe.

As Chang'e 6 is about to be launched, let us review Chang'e's lunar exploration journey together.

Chang'e-1

Launch time: October 24, 2007, 18:05

Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center

Chang'e-1 is the first lunar exploration satellite independently developed by my country. Its successful launch marks an important step in my country's implementation of the lunar exploration project and the Chinese people have begun the pace of deep space exploration.

Precious images from the launch of Chang'e-1 On November 12, 2008, the full moon image taken by Chang'e-1 was released. On March 1, 2009, Chang'e-1 satellite crashed into the moon in a controlled manner as planned, which marked a successful conclusion of the first phase of the lunar exploration project - the "lunar exploration" mission, and marked that my country has entered the ranks of countries with deep space exploration capabilities in the world.

Chang'e 2

Launch time: October 1, 2010, 18:59

Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center

Chang'e-2 is the second artificial satellite orbiting the moon in China's lunar exploration program. It is also the technical pilot satellite for the second phase of China's lunar exploration project and was originally the backup satellite for Chang'e-1.

▲Chang'e 2's exploration journey

On December 13, 2012, Chang'e-2 "brushed past" the asteroid Toutatis, internationally numbered 4179, from far to near, with the closest encounter distance being less than 1 kilometer. This marked my country's first flyby detection of an asteroid and became my country's first interplanetary probe.

Afterwards, Chang'e-2 flew to 100 million kilometers away and has become an artificial asteroid orbiting the sun. It is expected to return to the vicinity of the Earth in 2029.

Chang'e 3

Launch time: December 2, 2013, 01:30

Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center

On December 14, the Chang'e-3 probe carrying China's first lunar rover "Yutu" successfully soft-landed in the northwest of the Moon's Mare Imbrium ("Rainbow Bay Landing Area"), making my country the third country in the world to achieve a soft landing on the moon.

▲Chang'e 3 lunar landing video On December 15, the Chang'e 3 lander and rover successfully separated, and the Yutu lunar rover slowly started and drove onto the lunar surface, leaving two lines of Chinese marks on the moon.

Afterwards, "Chang'e" and "Yutu" successfully took photos of each other.

▲The first photo of the five-star red flag on the moon (Photo from People's Daily)

On August 1, 2016, my country officially confirmed that the Yutu rover, which had been in service for more than two years beyond its service life, had ceased working.

Chang'e 4

Launch time: 2:23 am, December 8, 2018

Launch site: Xichang Satellite Launch Center

At 10:26 on January 3, 2019, the Chang'e-4 probe autonomously landed in the Von Karman crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon, marking the first soft landing of a human probe on the far side of the moon.

▲The process of Chang'e 4 landing on the moon

At 11:40, the Chang'e-4 lander transmitted back the world's first close-up image of the far side of the moon through the Queqiao relay satellite. This was the first time that a human probe had taken a picture of the far side of the moon, unveiling the mystery of the ancient far side of the moon.

As of now, the Chang'e-4 mission is still the only soft landing and patrol exploration mission on the far side of the moon that has been successfully carried out by humans.

Chang'e 5

Launch time: 4:30 a.m., November 24, 2020

Launch location: Wenchang Space Launch Center The Chang'e-5 mission is the "final battle" of my country's three-step lunar exploration strategy of "orbiting, landing, and returning", and is also my country's first lunar sample return mission.

On December 17, the Chang'e-5 sample capsule successfully landed in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia, my country, and brought back 1,731 grams of lunar samples. This is the first time that my country has completed the collection of samples from extraterrestrial bodies, and it is also the first time that humans have brought back new lunar samples in 44 years.

At present, the Chang'e-5 lunar sample research has achieved a series of original results. These results involve the basic characteristics and new substances of lunar soil samples, the history of lunar volcanic activity and the causes of young volcanic activity, the content and source of lunar water and volatiles, meteorite impacts on the lunar surface and space weathering.

Chang'e 6's " new journey "

Chang'e-6 was originally a backup for Chang'e-5. After the success of the Chang'e-5 mission, it was given a new mission. It will go to the back of the moon to collect lunar samples and bring them back to Earth. This will also be the first time that humans have carried out sampling on the back of the moon.

The Chang'e-6 mission plans to go to the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon to conduct morphological detection and geological background surveys, in order to discover and collect lunar samples from different regions and different ages.

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.

In order to successfully complete the communication between the spacecraft on the far side of the moon and the earth, my country has newly developed the Queqiao-2 relay communication satellite. The Queqiao-2 relay satellite was launched on March 20 this year. On April 12, the National Space Administration announced that the Queqiao-2 relay satellite had completed the in-orbit communication test and achieved complete success.

Comprehensive sources: CCTV News, Beijing Association for Science and Technology, Xinhua News Agency, etc.