BEIJING: China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe looks set to begin its historic journey back to Earth from the moon’s far side after collecting samples that scientists expect will help answer key questions about the early evolution of the solar system.
Chang’e-6, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, was launched on May 3 from the southern Chinese island province of Hainan.
The fully robotic probe landed on Sunday in a previously unexplored location in a gigantic impact crater called the South-Pole Aitken Basin, on the side of the moon that permanently faces away from Earth.
China’s previous Chang’e mission collected samples from the moon’s near side in December 2020, restarting global lunar material retrieval efforts after a gap of 44 years.
The uncrewed Luna 24 mission launched by the former Soviet Union in 1976 collected 170.1 grams (6 ounces) of samples from Mare Crisium, or “Sea of Crises,” on the near side of the moon.
Between 1969 and 1972, six Apollo missions, all crewed, collected 2,200 samples weighing a total of 382 kilograms, also from the side of the moon facing Earth.
James Carpenter, head of the European Space Agency’s lunar science office, said the samples collected by the Apollo missions from the moon’s near side suggested the South-Pole Aitken Basin on the far side was caused by an epoch of extremely heavy bombardment of the solar system, Earth and moon.
“This is a really core event in the history of the whole solar system, but there is some controversy about whether it happened or not,” he said.
“To understand that, you need to anchor those events, and that’s going to be done with samples from the lunar far side from the South-Pole Aitken Basin.”
SMALL WINDOW
After landing, Chang’e-6 had a 14-hour window to drill, excavate, and seal 2 kg of material, with the goal of being the first probe to bring back such samples from the moon’s far side. This compares to the 21-hour window Chang’e-5 had in 2020.
“Once it gets dark, once the sun goes over the horizon, the mission has to end, so there is a limited time window between landing, getting those samples, and getting off the surface again, so it’s quite an exciting mission because it has to be done quickly,” Carpenter said.
While China said it had improved the efficiency of its digging and drilling machines compared with 2020, the mission could still encounter snags at the sampling phase.
Chang’e-5 returned 1.73kg of lunar samples, rather than the planned 2kg, as the drill was only able to create a hole one meter deep, rather than two meters, after encountering impenetrable layers beneath the surface.
The Chang’e-6 samples will be transferred and sealed on a rocket booster atop the lander, which will launch back into space, dock with another spacecraft in lunar orbit and transfer the samples.
A landing in China’s Inner Mongolia is expected around June 25.
Throughout the probe’s journey, payloads from Italian, French, and Pakistani research institutes, as well as the European Space Agency, will collect data on questions pertaining to space and the moon, highlighting the growing international weight of China’s space program, which is competing with the United States to build a lunar outpost in the next decade.
Carpenter said there was “extremely strong” collaboration between European and Chinese scientists in analizing the lunar samples brought back by Chang’e-5, and he hoped this would be repeated for Chang’e-6.
China’s lunar probe could return with answer to origins of solar system
https://arab.news/69my8
China’s lunar probe could return with answer to origins of solar system
- Chang’e-6, named after the mythical Chinese moon goddess, was launched on May 3
- A landing in China’s Inner Mongolia is expected around June 25
Philippines eyes closer cooperation on advanced defense tech with UAE
- Philippine-UAE defense agreement is Manila’s first with a Gulf country
- Philippines says new deal will also help modernize the Philippine military
MANILA: The Philippines is seeking stronger cooperation with the UAE on advanced defense technologies under their new defense pact — its first such deal with a Gulf country — the Department of National Defense said on Friday.
The Memorandum of Understanding on Defense Cooperation was signed during President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s visit to Abu Dhabi earlier this week, which also saw the Philippines and the UAE signing a comprehensive economic partnership agreement, marking Manila’s first free trade pact with a Middle Eastern nation.
The Philippines-UAE defense agreement “seeks to deepen cooperation on advanced defense technologies and strengthen the security relations” between the two countries, DND spokesperson Assistant Secretary Arsenio Andolong said in a statement.
The MoU “will serve as a platform for collaboration on unmanned aerial systems, electronic warfare, and naval systems, in line with the ongoing capability development and modernization of the Armed Forces of the Philippines,” he added.
It is also expected to further military relations through education and training, intelligence and security sharing, and cooperation in the fields of anti-terrorism, maritime security, and peacekeeping operations.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has described security and defense as “very promising fields” in Philippine-UAE ties, pointing to Abu Dhabi being the location of Manila’s first defense attache office in the Middle East.
The UAE is the latest in a growing list of countries with defense and security deals with the Philippines, which also signed a new defense pact with Japan this week.
“I would argue that this is more significant than it looks on first read, precisely because it’s the Philippines’ first formal defense cooperation agreement with a Gulf state. It signals diversification,” Rikard Jalkebro, associate professor at the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, told Arab News.
“Manila is widening its security partnerships beyond its traditional circles at a time when strategic pressure is rising in the South China Sea, and the global security environment is (volatile) across regions.”
Though the MoU is not an alliance and does not create mutual defense obligations, it provides a “framework for the practical stuff that matters,” including access, training pathways, procurement discussions and structured channels” for security cooperation, he added.
“For the UAE, the timing also makes sense, seeing that Abu Dhabi is no longer only a defense buyer; it’s increasingly a producer and exporter, particularly in areas like UAS (unmanned aerial systems) and enabling technologies. That opens a new lane for Manila to explore capability-building, technology transfer, and industry-to-industry links,” Jalkebro said.
The defense deal also matters geopolitically, as events in the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific region have ripple effects on global stability and commerce.
“So, a Philippines–UAE defense framework can be read as a pragmatic hedge, strengthening resilience and options without formally taking sides,” Jalkebro said.
