China's Chang’e 6 Lunar Probe Returns to Earth With World's First Samples From Far Side of Moon

Beijing: China's Chang'e 6 makes history after becoming the world's first lunar probe to bring back samples from the far side of the moon. The probe returned to the planet on Tuesday, June 25 and landed in China's northern inner Mongolia region at around 2 pm local time.

"The Chang’e-6 lunar exploration mission has been a complete success," said Zhang Kejian, head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

Chinese President Xi Jinping hailed the team and space agency for their accomplishments as the country's "eternal dream" as China aspires to become a dominating space power and ramp up its exploration programmes.

As per CNSA, the lunar is understood to have returned with up to 2 kilograms of moon dust and rocks. Scientists anticipate the returned samples include 2.5 million-year-old volcanic rock and other material that might answer questions about geographic differences on the moon’s two sides.

The sample will be first analysed by scientists in China and later will be made available to international researchers.

These samples were collected using a drill and robotic arm from a location within the sprawling South Pole-Aitken basin, an impact crater formed  4 billion years ago on the moon’s far side, which is never visible to Earth. The space agency shared a video and images for the same.

The Chinese probe left Earth on May 3, and its journey lasted 53 days.

Beijing in recent years launched multiple successful missions to the moon, collecting samples from the moon’s near side with the Chang’e 5 probe previously.

China also plans to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and aims to build a research base at the lunar south pole – a region believed to contain water ice, the same point where the US also hopes to establish a base.

(Inputs from AP)