China Moon landing: China lands lunar rover on dark side of the Moon, paving path to manned 2030 mission

A Chinese spacecraft successfully touched down on the far side of the Moon on Sunday (2 June), with the aim of gathering soil and rock samples.

The mission hopes to shed light on the differences between this less-familiar lunar region and the more extensively studied near side.

The landing module made its descent at 6:23am Beijing time (11.23pm on Saturday 1 June UK time), settling within the expansive South Pole-Aitken Basin, as reported by the China National Space Administration.

This mission marks the sixth venture in the Chang’e Moon exploration series, named in honour of a Chinese lunar deity. It follows in the footsteps of Chang’e 5, which also brought back samples, albeit from the near side, in 2020.

China's lunar ambitions, epitomised by this program, signify a burgeoning competition with the likes of the United States, which remains a front-runner in space exploration, alongside other contenders such as Japan and India.

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The Moon programme is part of a growing rivalry with the US - still the leader in space exploration - and others, including Japan and India. China has put its own space station in orbit and regularly sends crews there.

The emerging global power aims to put a person on the Moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation after the United States to do so.

America is planning to land astronauts on the Moon again - for the first time in more than 50 years - though Nasa pushed the target date back to 2026 earlier this year.

US efforts to use private sector rockets to launch spacecraft have been repeatedly delayed. Last-minute computer trouble nixed the planned launch of Boeing’s first astronaut flight on Saturday (1 June),.

Earlier on Saturday, a Japanese billionaire called off his plan to orbit the Moon because of uncertainty over SpaceX’s development of a mega-rocket. Nasa is planning to use the rocket to send its astronauts to the Moon.

In China’s current mission, the lander is to use a mechanical arm and a drill to gather up to two kilograms (4.4 pounds) of surface and underground material for about two days.

An ascender on top of the lander will then take the samples in a metal vacuum container back to another module that is orbiting the Moon.

The container will be transferred to a re-entry capsule, which is due to return to Earth in the deserts of China’s Inner Mongolia region around June 25.

Missions to the Moon’s far side are more difficult because it does not face the Earth, requiring a relay satellite to maintain communications. The terrain is also more rugged, with fewer flat areas to land.