The far side of the moon has been shrouded in mystery for years, and questions have piled up about its differences from the near side, which we see nearly every night here on Earth.
In a push to ascertain the moon’s uncharted secrets, progress on exploring the far side has accelerated in recent years. In early June 2024, China made the news as its newest space probe, Chang’e 6, landed on the moon’s far side, marking a bold direction for future lunar exploration.
What Is the Chang’e 6 Mission?
China launched the Chang’e 6 probe on May 3, 2024 with the intent of collecting samples of lunar regolith (a surface layer of dust, sand, and rock fragments) on the moon's far side. A similar mission occurred in 2020, when China's Chang’e 5 probe retrieved samples from Oceanus Procellarum — the largest of the lunar maria, which are basaltic plains mostly on the moon’s near side that were formed by lava flows.
In 2019, China became the first country — and so far, the only country — to have a successful landing on the far side of the moon with its Chang’e 4 mission, which dispatched a landing platform and a rover named Yutu-2. The lander and rover arrived at the Von Kármán crater in the southern hemisphere of the far side and have since accomplished multiple objectives, such as measuring radiation levels and studying regolith.
