HELSINKI – China’s Chang’e-6 spacecraft is on its way to Earth to deliver samples collected from the far side of the Moon.
The Chang’e-6 service module is likely to fire its engines for a trans-Earth injection around June 21. The spacecraft is now in the final leg of its complex, 53-day journey that includes a lunar landing, sampling, ascent and docking. A reentry capsule containing the unique samples will be released from the service module shortly before arrival at Earth early on June 25.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) has not given an update on any maneuvers to get the spacecraft out of lunar orbit and home. However, amateur optical and radio observations indicate that the Chang’e-6 spacecraft will be headed for Earth.
Observations and data shared by astronomer Bill Gray and others, as well as radio tracking by individuals and groups, including Scott Tilley and AMSAT-DL, provide evidence of Chang’e-6’s activities.
After returning to Earth, the reentry capsule is expected to touch down at Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia during a half-hour long window that opens at 1:41 a.m. Eastern (0541 UTC) June 25. The information is according to the announcements about the closure of the airspace. CNSA has not publicly released the mission event schedules in advance.
The reentry capsule will first pass through the atmosphere to dissipate some of the energy of a high-speed return from the Moon before re-entering Earth’s atmosphere.
The sampling will allow extensive research into the composition and evolution of the far side of the moon. The collected material could provide insight into why the near and far sides are so different and provide clues to the history of the early solar system.
Mission points
Chang’e-6 launched atop a Long March 5 rocket from Wenchang on May 3, reaching lunar orbit just under five days later. Its lander-rover combination touched down at 41.6385°S, 206.0148°E in Apollo Crater within the vast South Pole-Aitken Basin on June 1.
The mission’s ascent vehicle lifted off with up to 2,000 grams of material collected by a scoop and drill about 49 hours later. The lander docked with the Chang’e-6 service module in lunar orbit on June 6. The mission’s sample container was autonomously transferred to the reentry capsule after docking.
The lander deorbited to the moon days later, according to amateur radio tracking. CNSA has not released a statement on the fate of the adhesive, but it would be consistent with the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission protocol.
The Queqiao-2 relay satellite facilitated mission operations on the far side of the moon. The spacecraft, launched ahead of Chang’e-6, allows communication with the far side of the moon, which, due to Earth’s gravity slowing the moon’s rotation, never faces Earth.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson congratulated China on the mission’s progress after the liftoff of the ascender.
The head of the European Space Agency Josef Aschbacher also expressed his congratulations to the CNSA. He also noted the success of the cooperation between China and ESA on the Chang’e-6 mission.
This includes the successful collection of data by the NILS (Negative Ions on the Lunar Surface) instrument and the support of the ESA ground station for the early stages of the mission and the return to Earth. However, cooperation between ESA and China in the lunar sphere may be coming to an end.
Beyond Chang’e-6
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spotted the Chang’e 6 lander on the rim of an eroded crater inside Apollo Crater. LRO imaged the lander on June 7, after the rover had launched the collected samples into lunar orbit.
The landing was only the second on the lunar far side. It follows the landing of the Chang’e-4 lander and rover mission in 2019. That mission, along with the return of the sample near Chang’e-5, paved the way for Chang’e-6.
Upon release of the re-entry module, the Chang’e-6 shuttle will likely fire its engines to avoid re-entry. The spacecraft can then be sent on an extended mission, depending on fuel reserves. The Chang’e-5 orbiter visited the Sun-Earth Lagrangian point 1 before returning to the Moon to test a distant retrograde orbit. Outside parties again tracked the extended activities of Chang’e-5.
China’s next lunar mission will be the multi-spacecraft Chang’e-7 in 2026. The on-site resourcing and technology testing mission Chang’e-8 will follow around 2028.
These are described as precursor missions to the China-led International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). Launches with super heavy payloads in the early 2030s will build the ILRS. A number of countries and organizations have signed up to the project.
Before that, China aims to send a pair of astronauts to the lunar surface before 2030.
| Historical point | Description | date |
| Launch of Queqiao-2 | Launch of relay satellite to support Chang’e-6 | March 19, 2024 |
| Queqiao-2 Lunar Orbiter Insertion | Queqiao-2 enters lunar orbit | March 24 |
| Launch of mission CE-6 | The launch of the Chang’e-6 space shuttle | May 3 |
| Lunar Orbit Insertion | The spacecraft enters lunar orbit | May 8 |
| Moon landing | Descent and landing on the moon | June 1 |
| Collection of samples, surface operations | Collection of lunar soil and rock samples | June 1-3 |
| Ascent from the lunar surface | The ascent vehicle launches from the moon into lunar orbit | June 3 |
| Meeting and Docking | Orbiter docking vehicles into lunar orbit | June 6 |
| Trans-Earth Injection | Maneuver to send an orbiter towards Earth | ~June 21 |
| Re-entry and landing | The return capsule re-enters Earth’s atmosphere and lands | It is expected on June 25 |
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