China's new mission to the moon will also carry a Pakistani satellite
China's new mission to the moon, Cheng E6, will also carry a Pakistani satellite there.
The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said in a statement on social media site Weibo that the Chang'e-6 mission will be launched to the moon in the first half of 2024.
The mission will carry payloads from Pakistan, the European Space Agency, France and Italy to the moon.
The Chang'e 6 mission will carry French instruments that will test for radioactive gas.
Similarly, this mission will also take the Negative Ion Detector of the European Space Agency and the Calibrated Radar System of Italy to the Moon.
According to the statement, Pakistan's miniature satellite called CubeSat will also be sent to the lunar orbit.
The International Lunar Research Station project is being accelerated by China and more international partners are expected to become part of it, the statement said.
The mission will carry payloads and satellites from four countries to enhance international cooperation, CNSA said.
The Chang'e 6 mission will go to the dark side of the Moon and collect samples from the surface and return to Earth.
According to CNSA, this will be the first time that samples from the dark side of the Moon will be brought back to Earth, as previous missions have collected samples from the near surface of the Moon.
According to the statement, the purpose of this mission is to collect samples from different regions of the moon to get more details about the age of the moon.
Chang'e 6 will be followed by China's Chang'e 7 robotic mission to the Moon's South Pole.
The mission will look for signs of ice there while also examining the region's atmosphere and climate.
The Chang'e 8 mission will conclude the Chang'e missions that will be sent there to possibly establish a research station.
It should be noted that in 2020, China's Chang'e-5 mission collected samples from the Moon and brought them back to Earth, thus becoming the third country in the world to do so after the United States and Russia.
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