Chinese lunar probe returns to Earth with moon's far side first samples

China's Change Six probe has landed back on Earth with the world's first ever rock samples from the far side of the moon. The probe landed in northern China Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region. And we're going to talk more about this accomplishment now with space expert Olivier Songi, who's the editor in chief of Space News in Toulouse. Olivia, thanks for taking the time to speak to us. Now, previous US or Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon's near side. This Chinese mission was the first ever to collect samples from the other side. Why is that such a feat? Well, it's a feat because it is a fully automatic mission. And if you look at how they did it, it's in fact Apollo style mission, smaller and fully automatic. So it's really a sort of rehearsal of a future manned mission for China. So just explain to us what's the difference between the far and the near side of the moon? Why is it so difficult to get to the far side? Well, the first side is the side we don't see because when the moon does a revolution around the Earth, it rotate at the same time. So we don't see the far side. We we, we saw it with probes during the Apollo missions. And also you don't have radio communication when you are on the far side, there is a moon and it block every communication. So before sending Changi 6 they send the really satellite so it get bounced radio transmission towards the earth. So now for the first time ever we have these rock samples from the far side of the moon. What can they tell us? What can we learn from them? Well, we can learn the history of Earth. Sounds a bit curious, but it is. Remember that the moon was formed around 4.5 billion years with a huge impact. So the moon is a part of Earth, of the original Earth. And when you studies moon, you studies histories of Earth. And also the far side is very different from the near side. There is a lot of craters on the far side. There is no lunar Maria. The seas which are not seas, of course, these are lava planes. And so we want to understand why this difference. And understanding this difference with lunar sample, maybe there will be composition differences between far side and your side. And maybe we can reconstitute the history of the far side. So now China is really going full steam ahead with its space program now shooting the land astronauts on the moon by 20-30. That's just six years away. Do you think that that's likely to happen? Oh, I think it's possible. Maybe even 2029, because it will be a very important year for China. You know, People's Republic of China will have 80 years will be very symbolic. But China also shows I don't want to ask things they they don't want to do it fast. They want to do it with success. And that's very important for them. And so for a lot of success for China, I mean, it was the first country to put a craft on the dark side of the moon in 2019. Now, this successful mission today, what does all of this say about China's place in the space race, particularly in regard to the US, which for now is still the leader in space exploration? Yes, but China has a very interesting program. They do step by step mission and each time they complexify the mission. They landed on the moon and then the landed on the far side. They did a return sample before. Now they're doing a return sample forms of far side. You see step by step, they do have their own space station with three astronauts. Also, they landed on Mars, so maybe they will do sample returns from Mars before the Europeans and Americans. And politically, it's important. China, I say we are a technological country. In the meantime, the China is working with other nations, is working with France, for example, on a satellite that was just launched Saturday that's the most powerful yet for studying the farthest explosion of stars. What more can you tell us about that and that collaboration with France? Well, the collaboration, scientific collaboration is tradition in space and China use this tradition also. It's you. You can do diplomatic ties with scientific collaboration. There is also an instrument, the French instrument on the moon with Chinese 6. So you see China is saying we are a, a country that allows to, to do science, not only just war or, or, you know, commerce or things like that. We are doing science and we, we, we do diplomatic ties with science. We will see with the geopolitical, of course, what is happening with, with what we'll do. Olivia, just to wrap up, what is the ultimate challenge for China? What would really be the thing that would make it the number one in the space race? Well, I think that first of all, they perhaps they want to do Martian sample return before the United States. It's possible because the American program is late and over budget and after maybe say we do man mass mission. They said we are thinking about it. All right, Olivier, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us there. That's space expert Olivier Sangi, the editor in chief of Space News, talking to me from Toulouse.