Newly Released Images of Chang’e 6, China’s Latest Moon Mission, Reveal a Small Exploration Robot Attached to the Lander.
On May 3, The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) successfully launched the Long March 5 rocket into space, carrying equipment for the Chang’e 6 mission. These vehicles entered lunar orbit on May 8. Chang’e 6 is expected to become the first mission in history to collect samples from the far side of the Moon and return them to Earth.
Mysterious exploration robot attached to the lunar lander in China’s Chang’e 6 mission. (Photo: CAST).
The key vehicle is the lander, which is scheduled to land on the Moon in early June. There, the lander will collect samples from the lunar surface, placing them into a return module to launch back to Earth, similar to the Chang’e 5 mission. In that mission, the Chinese spacecraft successfully landed on the Moon in 2020 and returned samples to Earth a few months later.
Not much information about the Chang’e 6 mission was disclosed prior to the launch, other than that cargo from France, Sweden, Italy, and Pakistan was also sent to the Moon. However, after the launch, CAST released new images, including one of a small robot with wheels attached to the side of the lunar lander, reported Space on May 8.
The main mission of the exploration robot remains unclear. However, according to information from the Shanghai Ceramics Institute, which provided some components for Chang’e 6, the robot is equipped with an infrared imaging spectrometer. Given the robot’s size and the conditions on the Moon, its mission may be relatively short.
CAST previously had the Yutu-2 rover on the far side of the Moon, which landed in 2019 during the Chang’e 4 mission—the first successful mission in the world to have a spacecraft land on the far side of the Moon. Yutu-2 made several significant discoveries, including small glass spheres on the lunar surface.
CAST’s ultimate goal is to send humans to the Moon by 2030. The agency plans to begin test launches of a new large, reusable rocket next year. However, similar to the new robot, details about this mission remain under wraps.
