By: Aiden Ding
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” said Neil Armstrong when he stepped on the moon. Since then,12 people have walked on the moon. Currently, three lunar rovers are on the moon. On June 25th, 2024, a robot returned from its journey to the moon. Its name was Chang’e 6.
China’s lunar probe, Chang’e 6, engraved its name in planetary history when it landed on the far side of the moon and collected samples of the earth. This accomplishment has never been done before, because the far side was always darker than the side you could see.
Chang’e was named after China’s Moon goddess, perhaps to grant it good luck. The spacecraft took off from Hainan province, located in Southern China. Chang’e 6’s journey took a month, and ended on June 2nd with a smooth landing at the SPA basin.
The SPA basin is on the Moon’s far side, and is estimated to be 1600 miles wide and 5 miles deep. It’s one of the most ancient impact craters in the Solar System.
The spacecraft’s first job was to plant China’s national flag on the outside of the crater. The flag is 12×8 inches and is entirely basalt.
After planting the flag, Chang’e 6 used its built-in drill and jointed robot arm to obtain parts of the crust, such as soil and rocks. Using a camera, it snapped photos of the moon. On June 4th, two days after it arrived on the moon, it began its journey back to earth.
These samples will tell scientists whether there is a difference in the rock formation on the darker side of the moon. Or it might answer the wild question whether or not hidden life forms could exist on the moon.