China’s latest lunar success includes a swipe at America

The Chang’e 6 lunar sample return probe has returned with its precious cargo from the far side of the moon. The successful mission is another small step on the long march to a Chinese crewed lunar landing.

The Chang’e 6 launched in early May and arrived in lunar orbit about a week later. It circled the moon for 20 days before the lander separated from the orbiter in early June to land at the Apollo crater on the far side of the moon.

Greg Autry, the author of “Red Moon Rising,” noticed China’s sly attempt to take a jab at its American rivals with its selection of a landing site.

He noted in Forbes that the Apollo crater, which “is named in honor of America’s great lunar achievement,” features “interior and adjacent craters" that are “named for Apollo astronauts and memorialize deceased NASA employees, including the lost crew of the Space Shuttle Columbia.” 

“Chang’e 6 will literally raise a communist Chinese flag there. The Chinese are extremely careful with protocol, any small slight is intentional,” Autry added. 

The Chang’e 6 collected about 2 kilograms of material, some of it from two meters below the lunar surface, using a scoop and a drill. The Chang’e 6’s ascent vehicle, which was on top of the lander, lifted off from the moon on June 3 and docked with the orbiter/return vehicle. 

The samples were transferred to the orbiter/return vehicle, which departed lunar orbit on June 22 and landed in Inner Mongolia on June 25. The Chang’e 6 also deployed a small rover, which separated from the lander and took its picture.

Incidentally, the flag China deployed on the landing site was made of basalt, a kind of volcanic rock. While the cloth flags that fly over the Apollo landing site have long since been bleached white by the sun, the Chinese flag will last a very long time as a testament to that country’s achievement.

The Chang’e 6 mission is the latest in a string of successful Chinese lunar voyages of discovery that has made China competitive in Space Race 2.0. The last lunar sample return mission, the Chang’e 5, returned a sample of helium 3, an isotope that some scientists tout as fuel for future fusion reactors.

In the meantime, the record for NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program has been decidedly mixed. The attempt to land the Astrobotic Peregrine lander was a complete failure, The Intuitive Machine IM-1 Odysseus touched down on the lunar surface and tipped over on its side, though it did fulfill most of its scientific objectives.

Three more Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions are scheduled for the rest of 2024.

Firefly Aerospace is due to launch its Blue Ghost lander in the third quarter of 2024. Blue Ghost is intended to land 10 instruments provided by NASA and other entities on the Mare Cesium, a volcanic region on the northeast quadrant of the moon’s near side.

Astrobotic intends to try again with its larger Griffin lander. The Griffin’s main mission will be to deliver the NASA VIPER rover to the lunar south pole, where it will prospect for water. The launch is scheduled for no earlier than November 2024.

Intuitive Machines will undertake a second lunar landing, also at the moon’s south pole, with a Nova-C lander dubbed Athena sometime in the fourth quarter of 2024.

Opinions vary about the long-term prospects of the Chinese moon program and, indeed, the Chinese state. But the fact remains that China’s long march to the moon is on a roll. Barring unforeseen events, that country is on course to land its astronauts on the lunar surface by 2030.

In the short term, the companies that are part of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services program should start racking up successes. That means landing upright on the moon and returning valuable data from the lunar surface.

In the longer term, the Artemis program must proceed on schedule. Artemis II still seems to be a go for the latter part of 2025. The first human expedition around the moon in decades will go a long way toward reestablishing the U.S. and its allies as the dominant space powers on Earth.

In 2026 or slightly later, the “second giant leap for mankind” should occur with the Artemis III mission. If it occurs before a Chinese lunar landing, the second race to the moon will have been won, with all that implies.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of “Why is It So Hard to Go Back to the Moon?” as well as “The Moon, Mars and Beyond,” and, most recently, “Why is America Going Back to the Moon?” He blogs at Curmudgeons Corner.