China's Chang'e-6 probe has left a memorable mark on the far side of the moon. The Chinese national flag, unfurled on the probe's lander on Tuesday, will remain intact for a long, long time because it's made from a type of stone, or more precisely, fiber from basalt.
Professor Zhou Changyi, with the National Space Science Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences, also chief designer of the Effective Payload System of Chang'e-6 probe, told CGTN that the flag could stay on the moon for over 10,000 years. (CGTN)
Chinese space scientists have revealed in a paper how the country's lunar probe Chang'e-7, supported by a hopping detector, may go about investigating the water-ice in the shadow pit near the south pole of the moon. China plans to launch the Chang'e-6 to land on the moon in around 2024 to collect samples from the far side of the moon, before sending the Chang'e-7 probe around 2026 to implement resource exploration of the lunar south pole.
To better understand the lunar environment and prepare for a human return to the moon, the Chang'e-4 probe, which has just made the first-ever soft landing on the far side of the moon, carries payloads jointly developed by Chinese, German and Swedish scientists to conduct research.
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