A Pakistani satellite will orbit the moon in a first for history as part of China’s Chang’e-6 moon mission, which was launched on Friday from Hainan, China. The aim of the mission is to explore the dark side of the moon. Many moon missions will use lunar research payloads from various nations, including Pakistan’s iCube Qamar satellite. The Institute of Space Technology (IST) announced on Tuesday that Chang’e-6 will carry Pakistan’s “historic” lunar module, iCube-Q. IST, China’s Shanghai University (SJTU), and Pakistan’s national space agency, Suparco, collaborated on the module’s design.
Pakistan has achieved a historic milestone with the launch of iCube Qamar, the nation’s first satellite mission to the moon, from Hainan, China, aboard China’s Chang’E6. Both Chinese state television and the IST website carried live coverage of the launch event.
The goal of Chang’e-6 is to retrieve two kilogrammes of lunar material from the Moon’s far side and return them to Earth for examination. It was praised as “the first endeavour of its kind in the history of human lunar exploration” by the Chinese official news agency Xinhua.
Vice director Ge Ping of China’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Center told reporters, “Chang’e-6 will collect samples from the far side of the Moon for the first time.”
“After it reaches the Moon, it will make a soft landing on the far side. Within 48 hours after landing, a robotic arm will be extended to scoop rocks and soil from the lunar surface, and a drill will bore into the ground. Scientific detection work will be carried out simultaneously,” Xinhua News reported.
After collecting samples, the unmanned spacecraft will return to Earth, landing in north China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region. The entire flight is likely to take 53 days.
Ahead of the launch, approximately 50 officials from 12 countries, including Pakistan, France, Italy, the United Nations, and the European Space Agency, attended a conference in Hainan about space and potential international cooperation.
The guests then gathered in Haikou to witness the launch of the Chang’e-6 lunar probe.
In addition to the CubeSat from Pakistan, the Chang’e-6 moon mission is carrying several other international payloads to the moon, such as the laser corner reflector from Italy, the radon detection instrument from France, and the lunar surface ion analyzer from the European Space Agency.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, meanwhile, commended the country and scientists for launching the first mission into lunar orbit.
iCube Qamar ( Pakistan First Moon Mission)
Two optical cameras are carried by the iCube-Q orbiter to take pictures of the lunar surface. The module is a cube satellite, or CubeSat. CubeSats are tiny satellites that are characterized by a uniform cubic design and small size.
Owing to their small size and comparatively low cost in comparison to conventional satellites, CubeSats provided universities, research centers, and commercial organizations with chances to take part in moon missions and collect important data for innovation and scientific advancement.
The “space dream” of Beijing.
President Xi Jinping is driving forward preparations for China’s “space dream.”
Over the past ten years, Beijing has made significant investments in its space program with the goal of achieving a number of lofty goals and catching up to the two established space powers, Russia and the United States.
A new crew of three astronauts was sent to the space station Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace,” last month. The nation has accomplished a number of noteworthy feats.
Beijing became the third nation to send humans into orbit on its own when it successfully placed robotic rovers on Mars and the moon. By 2030, China wants to send a crewed mission to the moon and establish a lunar base as well.