China Daily | Adventurer to the far side of the moon - video Dailymotion

The Star

For the first time ever, China's Chang'e 6 robotic mission has brought back valuable samples from the moon's far side. How does it work?  WATCH MORE: https://thestartv.com/c/news SUBSCRIBE: https://cutt.ly/TheStar LIKE: https://fb.com/TheStarOnline

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00:00We can easily see the moon either with our own eyes, or with cameras and telescopes.

00:10But all we can see is the near side of the moon.

00:13The moon's far side is out of reach of both human eyes and digital signals.

00:19It's a mysterious area, hidden from Earth.

00:23That's exactly where Chang'e 6 went.

00:25It accomplished something that no man has done before.

00:28Bring back material from the moon's far side.

00:32So how does it work?

00:33I'm Liz.

00:34Today, let's replicate this megaproject.

00:41This is WAB-E, our simple version of a lunar probe.

00:44It is a trolley with robotic arms.

00:47In the areas covered by mobile signals, I can make to move back and forth.

00:51The arms can also move up and down.

00:53I can also receive its working images on my phone.

00:59WAB-E is now working smoothly, just like the lunar probe working on the near side of the

01:03moon does.

01:05It's all because there's no obstacle between it and Earth.

01:08But what if it goes to the far side of the moon?

01:11The moon itself is like a mountain.

01:16Getting the probe work on the far side of the moon is like sending WAB-E to the other

01:20side of a mountain.

01:24Let's go.

01:25WAB-E.

01:26See?

01:27We can see live footage from the trolley on our phone.

01:33It is going farther away.

01:35The mountain might block the signal transmission between us and the trolley.

01:39Now we're losing sight of the trolley, and the screen freezes.

01:45We've lost our trolley.

01:47In fact, when Chang'e 6 worked on the far side of the moon, it has also temporarily

01:52lost signal with Earth.

01:53Now, if we have a portable Wi-Fi hotspot as a signal transfer station, bypassing the mountain's

02:00blockage, we might get our trolley back to work.

02:04Wow!

02:05Once again, we are getting live footage from our trolley.

02:10It has landed on the other side of the mountain.

02:13If it can take some sample and fly back to us, our experiment will be a success.

02:33Our trolley is flying back to us with the sample.

02:36Our experiment of replicating the far side of the moon sampling mission is complete.

02:41With the assistance of a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, we can send our trolley on a sampling mission

02:45to the far side of the mountain.

02:48How did Chang'e 6 retrieve samples from the moon's far side, 380,000 kilometers away from

02:53Earth with an entire moon between us?

02:56In reality, two relay satellites served as the portable Wi-Fi hotspot connecting Earth

03:01and Chang'e 6 lunar probe.

03:04It has two antennas, one pointing to the moon and the other to Earth.

03:08Chang'e 6's landing site is on the northeastern side of the South Pole-Aitken Basin, the oldest

03:14known impact basin in the solar system.

03:16It's about 2,500 kilometers in diameter, about the length of Kunlun Mountains.

03:22It is around 13 kilometers deep, thus deeper than the Mariana Trench.

03:27This site is the closest to the moon's mantle.

03:30So here, Chang'e 6 can collect the oldest soil on the moon.

03:36This place I'm standing on is probably the most similar place on Earth to where Chang'e

03:406 will perform its mission.

03:43Space experts have conducted countless drills and training sessions here.

03:47In front of me is a full-scale simulator of the Chang'e 6 probe.

03:52The ascent vehicle is on top and the lander is at the bottom, mirroring the assembly on

03:57the moon.

03:59The terrain here is based on images transmitted back by Chang'e 6 before sending the actual

04:05commands to Chang'e 6, the simulator performs the validation work.

04:10Essentially, each step taken on the ground is mirrored in space.

04:16Let me try out what it's like to touch moon soil.

04:24Over here.

04:25We have plenty of it here.

04:28The moon soil in the training center is made from finely ground volcanic ash.

04:33You can see the super-fine particles.

04:36They're so tiny that they can even seep into your skin.

04:41While collecting soil, Chang'e 6 employs two sampling methods, scooping and drilling.

04:48It scoops surface material with a robotic arm and collects subsurface material using

04:53a drill.

04:56This way, we get samples from different depths and locations, revealing more about the moon,

05:01the solar system and the universe's history.

05:08After the collection is complete, the return journey of Chang'e 6 with the lunar soil is

05:13like a precise relay race.

05:16The ascent vehicle must launch at the correct window, take off from the far side of the

05:20moon and dock with the orbiter, complete the passing of the baton, lunar soil.

05:26The orbiter then carries the soil back to Earth, where the returner safely escorts it

05:32home.

05:33From its departure to its return, a total of 53 days, Chang'e 6 has accomplished something

05:39that no man has done before.

05:41Beyond our sight, on behalf of everyone on this planet, Chang'e 6 has glimpsed the deeper

05:46and unknown cosmos, the boundless sea of stars.

China Daily | Adventurer to the far side of the moon

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