China's robotic spacecraft to be sent to the moon
Like Chang'e 5, its predecessor, the Chang'e 6 spacecraft is a product of the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing and also consists of four components: an orbiter, a lander, an ascender and a reentry module.
After collecting dust and rocks on the moon, the ascender will transport the samples to the lunar orbit for transfer into the reentry module, which will carry them to Earth.
Meanwhile, scientific instruments on the lander will continue to perform their operations as long as they have sufficient power.
The United States, the former Soviet Union and China have brought lunar samples to Earth, but none has ever obtained soil from the far side of the moon.
Although the far side had been previously photographed by spacecraft, no probe had ever touched down on it until China's Chang'e 4 mission, which landed in the South Pole-Aitken Basin in January 2019.
