The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) took the first photo of Chang’e 6, showing how the Moon’s surface changed after the landing.
The Chang’e 6 lander is located between two craters about the same size as itself and on the edge of an eroded crater about 50 meters in diameter, according to Mark Robinson, the main person in charge of the ship’s camera system. LRO.
LRO, a NASA spacecraft in lunar orbit, discovered the lander in the Apollo Basin on the far side of the Moon on June 7, about five days after it landed. The ship appears as a small cluster of light in the center of the photo.
The team in charge of the LRO camera calculated that the coordinates of the landing point of the Chang’e 6 spacecraft are -41.6385 degrees north latitude, 206.0148 degrees east longitude, at an altitude of -5,256 m above the average lunar surface. Estimated horizontal accuracy is plus or minus 30 m.
“The terrain around the lander lit up due to disturbances from the engines, similar to the impact zones around other lunar landers,” the group said. Experts also released photos of the landing area on March 3, 2022 to clarify the difference before and after the Chang’e 6 landed.
Chang’e 6’s landing site is located in the “lunar sea” – a flat area of cool volcanic rock – at the southern edge of the Apollo Basin. Basaltic lava erupted south of Chaffee S crater about 3.1 billion years ago and flowed east until it encountered a high structure, Robinson and colleagues at Arizona State University said.
“Some wrinkles in this area have deformed and raised the surface of the Moon’s sea. The landing site is located between two such wrinkles,” the team of experts explained.
The Chang’e 6 spacecraft complex launched from Hainan province, southern China, on May 3, with the goal of bringing samples from the far side of the Moon to Earth for the first time. Upon completing sample collection, the launch vehicle carrying this precious cargo left the lunar surface on June 3. It then successfully docked with the orbiter and transferred the sample into the troposphere. The gyrosphere continues to fly around the Moon, waiting for the right time to begin its journey back to Earth.
This capsule is expected to land on Earth around June 25. With the help of a parachute, it will land at the designated location in Siziwang Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, northern China, ending a 53-day space mission.