26.04.2021
China says it will launch its next robot lunar lander in 2024, and it will carry equipment from France, Sweden, Russia and Italy
BEIJING -- China will launch its next robot lunar lander in 2024, and it will carry equipment from France, Sweden, Russia and Italy, the official news agency reported.
Plans call for Chang’e 6 to land near the lunar south pole and collect samples for return to Earth, the program’s chief designer, Hu Hao, said at a conference Saturday, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The Chang’e landers are part of Chinese space exploration efforts that also include a probe that is preparing to land a robot rover on Mars. There are also plans for a crewed orbital station, landing a human on the moon and retrieving soil from an asteroid.
In December, the previous moon probe, Chang’e 5, returned lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s.
Chang’e 6 is to “collect lunar samples automatically for comprehensive analysis and research,” Hu was quoted as saying at the conference in the eastern city of Nanjing.
The lander is expected to carry instruments developed by scientists from France, Sweden, Italy and Russia, Hu said. He gave no details of what they will do.
The announcement reflects growing interaction between China’s secretive, military-linked space program and other countries.
Quelle: abcNews
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China aims to launch Chang'e-6 lunar probe around 2024
China aims to launch the Chang'e-6 probe to collect samples in the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the moon around 2024, said a space expert on Saturday.
Hu Hao, the chief designer of the third stage of China's lunar exploration program, told the China Space Conference, held in Nanjing, east China's Jiangsu Province, that detailed designing on the mission is in progress.
China launched the Chang'e-5 probe in 2020, successfully bringing home 1,731 grams of moon samples.
As the backup of the Chang'e-5 mission, the Chang'e-6 mission would also collect lunar samples automatically for comprehensive analysis and research.
The China National Space Administration has invited scientists around the world to participate in the program, offering to carry solicited payloads.
Four payloads developed by scientists from France, Sweden, Italy, Russia and China have been preliminarily selected. After the detailed plan of the Chang'e-6 mission comes out, the payloads will be finally determined, said Hu.
China will carry out lunar resource exploration, scientific research and technological experiments in the Chang'e-6, Chang'e-7 and Chang'e-8 missions, aiming to build a prototype scientific research station on the moon by 2030, Hu added. Enditem
Quelle: Xinhua