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China Receives the First Ever Sample From the Far Side of the Moon
By: Maryn Johnson
Date: 1/17/25
In late 2024, China's Chang'e 6, a lunar spacecraft made to collect lunar soil from the Moon, returned to Earth with the first-ever samples of soil from the far side of the Moon.
Chang’e 6 launched on May 3, 2024 at 5:27 p.m. (Beijing Time), with the goal of bringing back the first ever soil sample from the far side of the Moon. The Chang’e 6 lunar probe landed at a location within the sprawling South Pole-Aitken basin, a crater formed around 4 billion years ago, collecting 1.9 kilograms of lunar soil. It successfully returned to earth on June 25, 2024, at 2:07 a.m. (Beijing time), and landed onto the grassy steppe of Inner Mongolia.
The samples Chang’e 6 has collected can now help scientists study the differences between the near and far side of the moon. They have already discovered fragments of basalt (an extrusive igneous rock made from the rapid cooling of lava) which date back more than 4.2 billion years. Chang’e 6 has also made a remarkable, groundbreaking discovery. They found water, along with some minerals, in the soil.
Finding water on the Moon, at least on its own, isn’t any new news. NASA and Indian spacecrafts have spotted what they think to be water on the Moon's surface. Chinese scientists found water trapped in glass beads strewn across the Moon in 2023. But this discovery, according to scientists, is the first time water in its molecular form (H2O) has been found in physical samples. More importantly, it was recovered from the far side of the Moon, a part of the moon scientists previously didn’t think water (in its molecular form) could exist in.
Previous discoveries suggested that water had existed on the Moon when volcanoes erupted(4+ billion years ago) . They also suggest that the water came from those volcanoes, which would mean that the water has been long present since the Moon's early existence.
It's clear that there are many, many differences between the near and far side of the Moon. Scientists know very little about the far side of the moon, and it's a critical issue. You can't learn much about the origin of a moon with just one hemisphere. That's one reason why this new accomplishment is such a big deal. It will help scientists understand the moon's origin with much more accuracy.
This achievement is a big deal in the space community because, as the name suggests, the far side of the Moon doesn’t face the Earth and doesn’t allow for communication between Chang’e 6 and the Earth. China’s Astronomers solved this problem by using a satellite orbiting the moon to communicate with the spacecraft.
With the information China has gathered, scientists will be able to learn more about not just the moon, but our whole solar system. This information will bring astronomy to a new level, bringing us closer to the idea of other outer space civilizations.
Sources:
https://www.npr.org/2024/06/24/nx-s1-5015208/china-return-first-ever-sample-return-moon-far-side
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgl454je0jgo
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