China lands on the dark side of the Moon, prepares to return with lunar samples

China has achieved another milestone in space exploration by successfully landing its Chang'e robotic lander on the dark side of the Moon for the second time.

The lander touched down on the Moon's Apollo crater, marking a significant advancement in lunar exploration.

The Chang'e 6 mission, named after the Chinese goddess of the Moon, aims to gather rock samples from the Moon's dark side and return them to Earth. This ambitious endeavor is unprecedented, as no previous missions have collected lunar samples from the far side of the Moon.

Following its successful landing, the Chang'e rover has a brief 14-hour window to collect approximately 4.4 pounds of rock samples. Once collected, the samples will be launched with a special rocket to rendezvous with the mission's orbiter, which is currently orbiting the Moon. The orbiter will then return to Earth with the lunar samples.

The mission is of great scientific importance as it aims to uncover the mysteries of the far side of the Moon. Scientists hope that studying these samples will help to understand the origin of our solar system and shed light on the differences between the near and far sides of the Moon, as, for example, the side that faces our planet has lots of volcanic seas known as "marias," while the far side does not.