China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe, which successfully brought back the first samples from the moon's far side to Earth, accomplished a multitude of technological breakthroughs and laid a solid foundation for future space exploration, said Yang Yuguang, vice chair with the International Astronautical Federation's Space Transportation Committee on Tuesday.
The returner of the Chang'e-6 lunar probe on Tuesday brought back samples collected from the moon's far side for the first time in human history, marking another milestone in China's space exploration endeavors.
The return capsule landed precisely in the designated area in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, operating normally. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) declared the mission "a complete success."
Chang'e-6 is so far the most complicated mission in China's lunar exploration program, and its control difficulty is extremely high, according to engineers at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center.
"Although Chang'e-6 was initially designed as a backup for Chang'e-5, the Chang'e-6 mission is by no means a simple repetition of the Chang'e-5 mission. We have not only obtained precious samples from the moon's far side for the first time in human history but also spearheaded numerous significant technological breakthroughs during the entire process. One in particular is the successful lift-off of the ascender from the far side of the moon. With the need to rendezvous and dock with the orbiter-returner combination, the ascending process demanded high precision. With limited technical support from the Queqiao-2 relay satellite, the ascending process posed significant difficulties and challenges. However, the rewards following these breakthroughs are equally tremendous," said Yang.
"The mastery of core technologies such as lifting off from the moon's far side, autonomous sample collection, and unmanned automatic rendezvous and docking in orbit not only makes great contribution to China's lunar exploration program, but also establishes a solid technological foundation for more challenging missions involving asteroid and Mars sample retrieval in the future," said Yang.
The returner is set to be airlifted to Beijing for opening, and the lunar samples will be transferred to a team of scientists for subsequent storage, analysis and study, said the CNSA.
Success of Chang'e-6 lunar probe paves way for sophisticated space exploration: expert
