In recent years, the continent's deep space exploration technology has made considerable progress, and it is no longer difficult for probes to explore the moon and Mars. Looking back on the past lunar exploration process, we can see that every mission is a huge breakthrough.
In 2004, the mainland's lunar exploration project was approved, and after almost 20 years of development, it has successfully completed the three-step plan of "orbiting, landing, and returning".
On October 24, 2007, Chang'e-1, the mainland's first artificial satellite around the moon, was launched.
On October 1, 2010, Chang'e-2, the second artificial satellite around the moon in the mainland's lunar exploration program, was launched.
On December 2, 2013, the mainland's first lunar lander, the Chang'e-3 probe, was launched and successfully landed on the lunar surface on December 13, 2013.
On December 8, 2018, the Chang'e-4 probe was launched, and on January 3, 2019, it landed in the pre-selection area on the far side of the moon, sending the Yutu-2 lunar rover to the far side of the moon. This is the first probe in human history to successfully soft land on the far side of the moon, realizing the first soft landing and patrol mission on the far side of the moon in human history. So far, the Chang'e-4 probe and the Yutu-2 lunar rover have been operating on the far side of the moon for more than five years, and the current state of the probe and the lunar rover is very good.
On November 24, 2020, the Chang'e-5 probe was successfully launched, and on December 1, 2020, it successfully landed in a pre-selected landing area on the front side of the moon, and then collected some samples on the surface of the moon and brought them back to Earth.
This is the first mission of the mainland to go to the moon to sample and return to Earth, and it is also the second mission to go to the moon for sampling after more than 40 years in human history, so the Chang'e-5 probe mission has attracted much attention.
After the complete success of the Chang'e-5 mission, the follow-up lunar exploration projects are also progressing steadily, among which the launch time of the Chang'e-6 probe is very close, and the Chang'e-6 probe mission will be more difficult than the previous lunar exploration projects.
Chang'e-6 has arrived at the launch site
On January 8, 2024 and January 9, 2024, the Chang'e-6 mission probe products arrived at Hainan Meilan International Airport on the An-124 and Y-20 aircraft, respectively, and then transported to the Wenchang launch site by road transportation. Next, the probe will be prepared for various tests before launch as planned.
Previously, we have announced the relevant tasks of the Chang'e-6 probe, that is, to launch the Queqiao-2 relay satellite in the first half of 2024, and then launch the Chang'e-6 probe around 2024 to take samples from the far side of the moon and return to Earth.
The previously announced time frame is actually not very precise, it may be within 2024 or after 2024, but now the probe products have been shipped to the launch site, which means that the launch time of the Chang'e-6 probe has basically been determined. According to news reports, the facilities at the Wenchang launch site are currently in good condition, and the Chang'e-6 probe is scheduled to be launched in the first half of this year, that is, the Chang'e-6 probe will be launched in the next few months, and the specific time needs to take into account the test of the probe and rocket, as well as the situation of the launch site and launch window.
History will be made
The Chang'e-6 probe has attracted everyone's attention for many reasons, one of which is that the destination of the Chang'e-6 probe is the same as the Chang'e-4 probe, which is to go to the far side of the moon, but the mission is different from Chang'e-4, and the Chang'e-5 probe is to go to the moon to collect samples and return to Earth.
In other words, the Chang'e-6 probe mission actually takes into account some of the tasks of the Chang'e-4 and Chang'e-5 probes, the two lunar exploration projects, to take samples from the far side of the moon and return to Earth.
Although humans have gone to the moon many times to collect samples and return to Earth before, they have never been to the far side of the moon to collect samples and bring them back to Earth, so if the Chang'e-6 mission is successful, it will make history and become the first probe in human history to go to the far side of the moon to take samples and return to Earth, which is of great significance.
In order to realize the mission of the Chang'e-6 probe to take samples from the far side of the moon and return to the earth, we will also launch a relay satellite in advance, that is, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite. According to the plan, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite will be launched in the first half of this year, followed by the launch of the Chang'e-6 probe.
The reason why we need to launch one of these relay stars is because the tide locks in, the far side of the moon is always facing away from the earth, so we can never see the far side of the moon from the earth, and the communication between the earth and the far side of the moon will be blocked.
The Queqiao relay satellite can provide communication relay services for the probe running on the far side of the moon, and our Chang'e-4 probe was able to successfully land on the far side of the moon and transmit back data, and the Queqiao relay satellite can be said to be indispensable.
Judging from the timing of the mission arrangement, in the next few months, the Queqiao-2 relay satellite and the Chang'e-6 probe will be launched successively, so the space project in the future period is worth all of us's attention.