China’s Chang’e-6 on Tuesday became the first spacecraft to bring back samples from the far side of the Moon — the part that the Earth never gets to see. The lander descended on the Moon’s surface on June 1, and spent two days collecting rocks and soil from one of the oldest and largest of lunar craters — the 2,500 km-wide South Pole-Aitken (SPA) basin — using a robotic arm and drill. The lander then launched an ascent module that transferred the samples to the Chang’e-6 orbiter that was orbiting the Moon. On June 21, the orbiter released a service module that brought back the samples to Earth. ABOUT THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON The Moon’s far side is often referred to as the dark side because it cannot be seen from the Earth, not because it does not catch the Sun’s rays. The Moon is tidally locked with the Earth and therefore, we see only one side of the Moon, also known as the near side. The far side has been under the spotlight in recent years as it is very different from the near side. “It has a thicker crust, more craters and fewer maria, or plains where lava once flowed,”

WHY EXPLORE THE FAR SIDE OF THE MOON?

  • Examining the samples from the far side can help scientists solve mysteries about the origin and evolution of the Moon — till now, scientists have only been able to analyse samples from the near side.
  • The far-side samples can also give answers to the longstanding question: why is it different from the near side?
Going to the far side, getting samples and doing different kinds of geophysical measurements is really important to figuring out this really long, long-standing mystery.

IS THIS THE FIRST LUNAR SAMPLE BRING BACK MISSION?

No.
  • Back in July 1969, the US Apollo 11 mission brought 22 kg of lunar surface material, including 50 rocks, to Earth.
  • In September 1970, the Soviet Luna 16 mission — the first robotic sample return mission — too, brought pieces of the Moon to Earth.
  • In recent years, Chang’e-5, the predecessor of Chang’e-6, brought back 2 kg of lunar soil in December 2020.
  • All these samples, however, came from the near side of the Moon.