NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured the first glimpse of the Chinese Chang'e 6 spacecraft, currently located on the far side of the Moon. The spacecraft appears as a small cluster of bright pixels in the center of the image taken by LRO on June 7, 2024.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images of China's Chang'e 6 sample-return spacecraft five days after its successful landing on the far side of the moon, NASA reports.
Chang'e 6's landing site is located on a marine unit, a “sea” of cooled volcanic rock, located on the southern edge of the Apollo Basin.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team determined the exact landing site coordinates to be minus 41.6385 degrees north latitude and 206.0148 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of minus 17,244 feet (minus 5,256 meters) relative to the average lunar surface. The estimated horizontal accuracy of the landing site is within plus or minus 100 feet (30 meters).
“The increased brightness of the area around the lander is due to a malfunction in the lander engine and is similar to the explosion region observed around other lunar landers,” the LROC team wrote.
And also shared an image of the same area captured on March 3, 2022, before Chang'e 6 landed, to highlight the spacecraft's presence on the lunar surface and provide comparison.
According to Mark Robinson, lead scientist for the High-Resolution Camera System on LRO, the Chang'e 6 lander is located between two craters that are comparable in size to the spacecraft, and it lies on the rim of a less prominent crater that is about 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter.
According to Robinson and his colleagues at Arizona State University, basaltic lava was erupted south of Chafee S Crater about 3.1 billion years ago and flowed eastward downslope until it hit a local topographic high, possibly associated with a fault.
According to NASA, the LROC image description states, “Several wrinkle ridges in this region deform and elevate the surface of the mare. The landing site is located about halfway between two of these ridges. The lava flow also overlaps a slightly older flow (~3.3 Ga) that appears to the east, but the younger flow is distinctive because it has a higher abundance of iron oxide (FeO) and titanium oxide (TiO2).” In this context, “Ga” is an abbreviation scientists use to represent “billion years ago.”
Following the successful acquisition of lunar samples, the ascent segment of the probe lifted off from the Moon's surface on June 3, carrying its invaluable payload.
The ascending segment then met the Chang'e 6 mission orbiter, where the lunar samples were transferred. After completing its task, the returner segment remains in lunar orbit, waiting for the opportune moment to begin its journey back to Earth.
If everything goes according to plan, the mission's return capsule, with its precious lunar collectibles, is expected to land on Earth around June 25. The capsule will land using a parachute at a predetermined site in Siziwang Banner, located in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking the successful conclusion of the 53-day space mission.
The lunar exploration mission, Chang'e 6, set off on its journey from southern China's Hainan province on May 3. The primary objective of this mission is to achieve a historic feat by bringing back lunar samples from the far side of the Moon, which has never been achieved before.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured images of China's Chang'e 6 sample-return spacecraft five days after its successful landing on the far side of the moon, NASA reports.
Chang'e 6's landing site is located on a marine unit, a “sea” of cooled volcanic rock, located on the southern edge of the Apollo Basin.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) team determined the exact landing site coordinates to be minus 41.6385 degrees north latitude and 206.0148 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of minus 17,244 feet (minus 5,256 meters) relative to the average lunar surface. The estimated horizontal accuracy of the landing site is within plus or minus 100 feet (30 meters).
“The increased brightness of the area around the lander is due to a malfunction in the lander engine and is similar to the explosion region observed around other lunar landers,” the LROC team wrote.
And also shared an image of the same area captured on March 3, 2022, before Chang'e 6 landed, to highlight the spacecraft's presence on the lunar surface and provide comparison.
According to Mark Robinson, lead scientist for the High-Resolution Camera System on LRO, the Chang'e 6 lander is located between two craters that are comparable in size to the spacecraft, and it lies on the rim of a less prominent crater that is about 165 feet (50 meters) in diameter.
According to Robinson and his colleagues at Arizona State University, basaltic lava was erupted south of Chafee S Crater about 3.1 billion years ago and flowed eastward downslope until it hit a local topographic high, possibly associated with a fault.
According to NASA, the LROC image description states, “Several wrinkle ridges in this region deform and elevate the surface of the mare. The landing site is located about halfway between two of these ridges. The lava flow also overlaps a slightly older flow (~3.3 Ga) that appears to the east, but the younger flow is distinctive because it has a higher abundance of iron oxide (FeO) and titanium oxide (TiO2).” In this context, “Ga” is an abbreviation scientists use to represent “billion years ago.”
Following the successful acquisition of lunar samples, the ascent segment of the probe lifted off from the Moon's surface on June 3, carrying its invaluable payload.
The ascending segment then met the Chang'e 6 mission orbiter, where the lunar samples were transferred. After completing its task, the returner segment remains in lunar orbit, waiting for the opportune moment to begin its journey back to Earth.
If everything goes according to plan, the mission's return capsule, with its precious lunar collectibles, is expected to land on Earth around June 25. The capsule will land using a parachute at a predetermined site in Siziwang Banner, located in northern China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, marking the successful conclusion of the 53-day space mission.
The lunar exploration mission, Chang'e 6, set off on its journey from southern China's Hainan province on May 3. The primary objective of this mission is to achieve a historic feat by bringing back lunar samples from the far side of the Moon, which has never been achieved before.