At 2:07 p.m. on 25 June, the Chinesesc Change-6 spacecraft returned to Earth bearing the first samples collected from the Moons farside. The mission, run by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) could help scientists understand the drastic differences in nearside and farside geology, impact history, and evolution.
The Change-6 mission represents a significant milestone in the history of human lunar exploration, and it will contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of lunar evolution,Wei Yang, a geochemist at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences,told the Xinhua News Agency.
Second Farside Landing
Change-6 landed in the southern mare of the Apollo basin, an impact crater 537 kilometres across that sits within the older SPA basin. The SPA basin is one of the largest and oldest impact features in the solar system and exemplifies the differences in the Moons hemispheres.
There are significant differences between the farside and the nearside of the Moon in terms of lunar crustal thickness, volcanic activity, composition, etc.,Zongyu Yue, a planetary geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said in arecent statement. Yue added that the Change-6 samples are expected to answer one of the most fundamental scientific questions in lunar science research: what geologic activity is responsible for the differences between the two sides?
