China's Chang'e-6 probe retrieved 1,935.30 grams of samples from the far side of the moon, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Friday, while a ceremony was held by the CNSA in Beijing to hand over the sample container to the Chinese Academy of Sciences for storage, analysis and research.
China plans to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe next year, which is expected to bring lunar samples back to the Earth. The Chang'e-5 lunar probe will be very complex, containing four parts: an orbiter, a returner, an ascender and a lander. The lander will put moon samples in a vessel in the ascender after the Moon landing. Then the ascender will take off from the Moon to dock with the orbiter and the returner orbiting the Moon, and transfer the samples to the returner.
China's second lunar rover Yutu-2 (Jade Rabbit-2), which is the first ever rover to drive on the moon's far side, will face considerable challenges brought by complicated terrain in its future exploration. The Chang'e-4 probe, including a lander and a rover, touched down on the Von Karman Crater in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin on the far side of the moon on Jan. 3, with the rover driving onto the lunar surface late that night.
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