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Source: CCTV News Client

Not long ago, Chang'e 6 successfully returned to Earth with soil from the far side of the moon. This is the most technologically advanced lunar exploration mission in China's space history. It has not only made breakthroughs in the design and control technology of the lunar retrograde orbit, but also in the intelligent sampling technology and takeoff and ascent technology from the far side of the moon. It has also achieved the world's first automatic sampling and return from the far side of the moon. What kind of innovations and creations of Chinese astronauts are behind this space feat? How many secrets of the moon will the soil retrieved from the far side of the moon reveal for us to explore the universe?

Accurate obstacle avoidance and intelligent sampling

Chang'e 6 successfully brought back lunar soil

On June 25, 2024, the Siziwang Banner Space Landing Site in Inner Mongolia welcomed a special "guest": After 53 days of space roaming, the Chang'e-6 returner landed successfully and brought back a precious "express delivery" to the Earth - lunar samples from the far side of the moon. This is also the first time that humans have achieved sampling and return from the far side of the moon.

The precious lunar samples will provide humans with more valuable data and information about the moon, and are expected to deepen human research on the origin and evolution history of the moon.

The pre-selected landing area of ​​Chang'e-6 - the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon - has a height of more than 10 kilometers, which is like landing a small truck in the mountains. It not only requires precise obstacle avoidance, but also advanced guidance, navigation and control systems to ensure a safe landing.

Experts conducted repeated demonstrations at the test site of Tongji University, using wooden boards of different sizes at different heights and angles to simulate the undulations of the ground as seen from the air.

After Chang'e-6 landed smoothly, sampling on the far side of the moon became more difficult. Limited by the relay communication time on the far side of the moon, Chang'e-6 adopted fast intelligent sampling technology to shorten the effective working time of lunar surface sampling to less than 20 hours, collecting lunar samples through two methods: drilling sampling with drilling tools and surface sampling with robotic arms.

Compared with Chang'e 5, Chang'e 6 has made great improvements in intelligence and autonomy.

Ma Ruqi, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation: As long as one instruction is issued, it will connect the entire task together. For example, from touching the moon, sampling to lofting, the whole process only requires one instruction to connect it all and execute it all, thus improving efficiency.

On the mysterious and distant moon, there is no magnetic field and atmosphere to shield it, so the lunar soil is directly exposed to the solar wind and other cosmic radiation. The study of lunar soil will provide powerful help for humans to understand the long-term evolution of the Earth's space environment and solar activity. It has been 20 years since the Chinese lunar exploration project was launched.

Wu Weiren, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of China's lunar exploration project: I think that in the past 20 years, from nothing to something, from zero to now, we are ahead in some aspects.