China’s space mission, Cheng-6, aims to collect lunar samples and bring them back. But more than that, it is a reflection of China’s ambitions in space exploration.
China’s space mission
China’s space mission, Cheng-6, aims to collect lunar samples and bring them back. But more than that, it is a reflection of China’s ambitions in space exploration.
It is China’s most important space mission to date, which launched on May 3. In this mission, China simultaneously sent four spacecraft to the Moon.
China’s mission aims to collect samples from the far side of the Moon and then safely bring them back to Earth. Thus, its purpose is to convey new information about the early history of the solar system and the Moon, the Earth’s closest neighbor.
Now, to achieve this goal, the four spacecraft will have to complete a complex orbit.
The Chang’e-6 spacecraft spent about 4.5 days on its journey to the Moon. Once in lunar orbit, its lander will separate from the spaceship and head to the far side of the Moon, the ‘Apollo Crater.’ It is expected to land there in early June.
The lander will use a scoop and drill to collect material from the lunar surface and its subsurface. They will land on the Moon with the help of a powerful lander, and then the orbiter will be tasked with delivering the material from there.
Satellite launch
It will travel at a speed of about one mile per second. Therefore, this stack accuracy will be required to establish synchronization between the orbiter and the ascender. Because of their distance from ground stations, it would need to be automated.
Samples from this celestial game of cat and mouse will be transferred to a re-entry capsule into Earth’s orbit. That spacecraft resembles a smaller version of China’s Shenzhou Crew spacecraft’s return module. The orbiter will be released just before entering the Earth’s boundary.
It will first propel itself through Earth’s atmosphere to help reduce some of its accelerating energy on its return from the Moon. Then, it will land on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia to deliver samples from the Moon.
These samples, taken from a large crater called the South Pole-Atkin (SPA) Basin, will reach laboratories as diverse material for scientific study.
Catherine Joy, professor of lunar and planetary science at the University of Manchester in the UK, says: ‘The SPA basin is one of the best places on the Moon to obtain rocks that can be studied to study the Moon’s origin and geological evolution. To answer the questions we have about
The rocks collected by Chegg-6 will be the first rocks from the far side of the Moon, while earlier Apollo missions have visited the near side of the Moon.
“Hopefully, they will help us figure out why the near and far sides of the Moon are geologically so different from each other,” he said.
“The collected samples will help us understand the history of the impact basin itself,” says Catherine Joy. This will shed light on what was happening when the giant embryos of the planets were invading the Moon in its early history.”
Beyond the scientific interests, however, the Chang’e-6 mission also shows some of China’s larger ambitions.
These arrangements and measures will be useful for another possible mission, and such tactics could also be used to obtain samples from Mars. Moon samples could reveal major scientific insights into the mysteries of the Solar System. At the same time, material from the Red Planet could provide new insights into one of the biggest mysteries: whether life is possible on Mars and whether it is habitable or not.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) are also working on samples from Mars. However, the complex project has recently been plagued by delays, budget problems, and congressional obstruction. This means that China may look at it surprisingly first.
Another notable fact is that Chang’e 6’s trip to the Moon was not intended to bring back samples of the lunar surface. It also opened the door to the possibility of transporting astronauts to the lunar surface and returning them safely to Earth. If yes, is it possible? And the additional complications involved in the Chang’e-6 mission could be a stepping stone to a human-crewed lunar mission.
China’s space mission Chang-6 is to bring soil samples from the Moon’s south pole.
China announced last year that it plans to launch its first crewed lunar mission before 2030. The mission will send a pair of astronauts into orbit for a few hours before rejoining a waiting companion. It will then be taken to the surface of the Moon. This would be similar to NASA’s Apollo missions, as evidenced by the communication between the orbiter and the ascender in Chang E-6.
China has no short-term plans to plant a flag or make footprints on the Moon. Their ambition is more like NASA’s Artemis than Apollo. China plans to launch two separate missions to the Moon’s south pole around 2026 and 2028, including using 3D bricks from lunar soil as a precursor to its lunar base. Maybe.
“The South Pole on the Moon is the destination that we are preparing to send humans to the Moon again,” says Catherine Joy.
He says NASA’s commercial lander program of Chang-7 and 8 is also planned, with several missions landing to test where and if there are propellants, including water and ice, in the polar soil.
‘Materials like this could come in handy for future human explorers, so it will be very interesting to see the diversity that all the planned robotic landers will encounter over the next few years.’
These efforts are part of the initiative to build a base on the Moon. China, along with Russia, is trying to attract other countries to a joint International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and to develop basic technology, such as a nuclear reactor that would provide electricity on lunar nights. It should be noted that lunar nights are equal to two weeks on Earth.
The project is parallel but separate from NASA’s Artemis program, which suggests that the growing geopolitical divide on Earth is not limited to Earth. Space exploration is sometimes seen as a purely scientific endeavor, but it is also a manifestation of geopolitical capabilities and an indicator of capabilities to achieve other goals.
China’s space ambitions are inherently complex. Bladen Bowen, who researches space policy and outer space international relations at the University of Leicester, says: ‘All states pursue space projects for a variety of reasons, most of them falling into the categories of war, development, and prestige. .’
Model of China’s space station
China now has its own space station, Tiangong, or ‘Heavenly Palace’. Three astronauts live on the station for six months at a time. Its cluster, Beidou, is the answer to America’s GPS system.
The provision of timing and positioning services under this system has fueled economic growth in China and paved the way for the development of location-based app services and supporting sectors such as finance, agriculture, shipping, aviation and many others. . It also provides China’s military with precision missile and munitions guidance capabilities and the ability to project its forces more coherently around the world. But it’s not too unusual either.
Bowen says: ‘The reality is that China has a military space program and anti-satellite weapons that other major space powers have had in the past and still have today.
“Chinese leaders have mixed interests in war, development, and prestige. With the achievements of these large programs, they want to protect themselves from external and internal threats, project their military power, secure economic positions in the world economy, and gain political benefits from it.’
Although big missions like Chang’e-6 rarely grab the headlines, China’s space program is far-reaching and has implications for itself and other countries on Earth.
Speaking of science, China is also making progress in astronomy, astrophysics, and exoplanet detection. This month, the country’s top space science official unveiled a series of missions aimed at achieving breakthroughs. These include the formation of a cluster of satellites. Its purpose is to use the far side of the Moon as a shield against terrestrial interference and also to try to pick up faint signals from the early universe.
It has another mission aimed at detecting Earth-like exoplanets and so-called rogue planets that do not orbit stars in the Milky Way, while one of its solar probes will attempt to capture the first views of the Sun’s poles. Will do.
China’s Tianwen Planetary Program plans to sample near-Earth stars and visit a comet, collect samples from Mars, and send probes to Jupiter. In later missions, it may see the giant planets of the solar system, Uranus or Neptune, and these are all under consideration for the future.
Chinese space officials have also discussed creating an Earth-Moon Economic Zone, which indicates that China, like other space powers such as the United States, is considering commercializing space and its resources.
For now, however, China’s focus is on the success of the Chang-6 landing samples from the lunar surface before the end of June. After that, its next experimental mission could be to send its astronauts there later this decade.
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