Produced by: Tarun Mishra Designed by: Manoj Kumar
China is preparing to launch the Chang'e-6 mission, a robotic spacecraft aimed at collecting samples from the moon's far side.
The mission is the first of three missions aimed at setting the stage for a manned lunar landing and the establishment of a Chinese moon base by 2030.
Scheduled for launch this week, Chang'e-6 will use the backup spacecraft from the successful 2020 Chang'e-5 mission, which brought back lunar samples after four decades.
Chang'e-6 will target the moon's far side, where direct communication with Earth is impossible. To address this, the mission will rely on the Queqiao-2 relay satellite recently positioned in lunar orbit.
Despite US legal restrictions limiting collaboration with NASA, China. will include scientific payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan in the mission.
Chang'e-6 aims to land in the northeastern region of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, offering insights into the moon's early evolution and geological history.
The success of Chang'e-6 could provide critical data on the moon's composition and contribute to our understanding of the celestial body.
China's Chang'e-6 mission represents a significant step forward in global lunar exploration efforts, contributing to our understanding of Earth's closest celestial neighbour.