China's moon mission Chang'e-6: Here's what to know

China launched a robotic mission to the far side of the moon, and it sent back some incredible images and videos. Let’s break down Chang’e-6, take a look at the photos and videos, and talk about why this mission is such a big deal.

Chang’e-6 is an uncrewed mission to the far side of the moon. This is the second mission that China has launched to the far side of the moon (the first was Chang’e-4 which successfully touched down in 2019) and also the second lunar sample return mission (after Chang’e-5, which launched in November of 2020). However this is the first sample return mission from the far side of the moon.

The spacecraft consists of a few different parts: there’s an orbiter that stays in lunar orbit; a lander that separates from the orbiter, targeting the Apollo crater in the South Pole-Aitken basin on the far side of the moon and that collects samples; an ascent vehicle that launches from the lunar surface and conducts an autonomous rendezvous and docking with the orbiter, a re-entry capsule that receives the samples and safely descend with them to the Earth’s surface — and a surprise, a lunar rover that we only learned about after the mission launched because SpaceNews reporter Andrew Jones noticed in photos from the spacecraft manufacturer the China Academy of Space Technology.

(As you can imagine, it can be a little difficult to get information on the Chinese space program. I do follow the CNSA, or the Chinese National Space Administration. but I often turn to Andrew’s reporting to help me make sense of what’s going on, so if you are interested in reading more or following the Chinese space program, I highly recommend looking up his work.)

Chang’e-6 and the South Pole-Aitken Basin

Chang’e 6 launched on May 3 and entered elliptical orbit of the moon on May 7. It’s been orbiting ever since, waiting for the chance to send its lander to the surface. Light conditions were very important — the far side of the moon is often called the “dark” side, but it’s important to remember it’s not actually dark. That side of the moon just faces away from the Earth all the time, so we never see it from here, but it is illuminated by the sun the same way the near side is. The sun rose on the South Pole-Aitken basin on May 27, so it seemed that landing would be in early June.

The South Pole-Aitken basin is the largest impact crater on the moon, and in fact it’s one of the largest known impact craters in the entire solar system. The aim is to study the significant differences between the far and near sides of the moon, as well as prepare for crewed missions — China’s hoping to launch its first mission to the moon with taikonauts aboard by 2030.

Chang’e-6 was targeting a crater within the South Pole-Aitken basin called Apollo, and late in the day on June 1 (6:23 PM ET, or 2223 UTC), that would be 6:23 am on June 2 China Standard Time, the lander successfully touched down on the surface. Believe it or not, this is the third lunar landing in 2024, and the first this year (after Japan’s SLIM and Intuitive Machines) to not topple over in some manner.

The photos

Here are the first photos we got from the landing.

They’re breathtaking.

A couple of important things to note:

The curvature of the moon in this photo is because of the wide angle lens. You’re not seeing the curvature of the moon.

Also — the moon is brownish in these photos…because the moon is brownish. We’re all used to thinking of the moon as a gray, but the moon has color. The color it is depends on what surface minerals you’re looking at but — we often make assumptions on the color of the moon based on photographs.

But photos can depend on white balance, on exposure, plus a good number of images from the Apollo era were black and white. Also dust particles can make things look white because of the way they reflect light.

Here are two photos of Charlie Duke’s family photograph on the moon’s surface. Notice the difference?

Sample gathering and ascent

After touchdown and a check out of its systems, the lander started collecting samples. We know that the lander will collect up to 2,000 grams of samples, both from the surface as well as from digging down. This is some amazing footage of the lander at work.

At some point during all this, Chang’e-6 released its rover.

And they even gave us a photo of the lander on the lunar surface, as taken from the rover. It’s pretty spectacular, but we don’t really know what else the rover is up to because the CNSA has not provided that information.

The surface mission was expected to last just 48 hours, and at 7:38 pm ET on June 3, that’s 2338 UTC, the Chang’e-6 ascent spacecraft lifted off from the moon with the samples on board.

On communication + docking in orbit

You may be wondering how China’s getting all this data back, as it’s very difficult to communicate with spacecraft on the far side of the moon because it’s always facing away from the Earth. Well, thanks to the relay satellite Queqiao-2, which launched back in March, that’s not a problem. This satellite relays signals to and from the far side of the moon, including the data transfers for these photos. This satellite will also be used for future lunar missions, including Chang’e-7 in 2026 and Chang’e-8, scheduled for 2028.

Queqiao-2 also provided the Chang’e-6 ascent vehicle with autonomous positioning and attitude on its journey from the lunar surface. The ascent vehicle docked with the mission’s service module in orbit on June 6.

After docking, the sample canisters autonomously transferred to a special re-entry module, and the ascent vehicle will be jettisoned. Then the service module will begin its trip back to Earth in late June. We don’t have exact dates on this, but the mission will likely be around 53 days total. If the samples are returned successfully to Earth, these will be the first samples from the far side of the moon ever.

Why NASA hasn’t worked with the CNSA

China’s space program is booming, and they have a very successful lunar landing program: four successful landing out of four attempts. They’re planning on an asteroid sample return mission in the future, and for Tianwen-3, a Mars sample return mission in the 2030s. If you’ve seen my video on the problems plaguing NASA’s Mars sample return mission (if you haven’t, check out the video), then you might be wondering, “Why don’t NASA and the CNSA partner for MSR?”

Well, they can’t. The Wolf amendment was passed by the U.S. Congress in 2011, and it specifically prohibits cooperation with China on matters involving space. Specifically, NASA cannot allow its funds to go towards any projects with China or Chinese owned companies. The only way around this is that NASA has to certify that there’s no risk of sharing data or technology with China, and that nothing includes any Chinese state officials who have been involved in human rights violations.

One one hand, I get it. But on the other, this amendment hasn’t stopped Chinese space development, and would working together help more than refusing to work with them?

It’s important to note that Chang’e-6 is an international collaboration — NASA just wasn’t involved. Payloads from Sweden, Pakistan, France, and Italy were included aboard Chang’e-6.

That being said, NASA did encourage researchers to apply for access to use Chang’e-5 samples, stating that it had provided the necessary documentation to Congress for NASA-funded scientists to use these samples, so that’s a great step. Let’s hope that they do the same for Chang’e-6 samples, because there is going to be so much cool information within lunar regolith.