VOA科学技术2024--Chinese Spacecraft Brings Moon Samples Back to Earth

A Chinese spacecraft has returned to Earth with rock and soil samples recently collected from the moon.

A parachute Tuesday floated the unmanned Chang'e-6 capsule back to earth in China's Inner Mongolia area. The return flight came after Chinese space officials announced earlier this month that the spacecraft had successfully gathered the samples and stored them for the trip.

"I now declare that the Chang'e 6 Lunar Exploration Mission achieved complete success," said Zhang Kejian, the director of China's National Space Administration. Zhang spoke¹ during a televised news conference after the landing.

Chang'e-6 launched May 3 and touched down on the lunar surface about one month later. The spacecraft landed in an area near the moon's South Pole called the Aitken Basin. The area is known as the far side of the moon because it always faces away from Earth.

The successful return makes China the first country to ever collect and bring back lunar samples from the far side of the moon. In a statement, Chinese President Xi Jinping called the return a "landmark² achievement" in his country's space development effort.

The American space agency NASA describes the Aitken Basin as the largest impact basin on the moon. The area is believed to have formed more than 4 billion years ago.

Chinese space officials said earlier that controllers on the ground had directed the space vehicle to use its drilling equipment and other tools to capture the soil and rock samples. The operation was expected to produce up to two kilograms of moon material.

The samples will be closely examined by Chinese scientists. They said they expect them to include 2.5-million-year-old volcanic³ rock and other material. Scientists hope the samples will help answer questions about the differences between the moon's two different sides.

It is not the first time a Chinese spacecraft has collected material from the lunar surface. The country's Chang'e 5 spacecraft traveled to the moon in late 2020. It successfully brought back about two kilograms of moon rocks and dust.

That mission was carried out in an area known as Oceanus Procellarum. It sits on the western edge of the near side of the moon. That area is believed to have had intense volcanic activity in ancient times.

China is the third nation to successfully collect lunar samples, following the United States and the Soviet⁴ Union. Before China's latest efforts, the last collection mission happened in 1976, when an unmanned Soviet spacecraft collected 170 grams of moon material.

Words in This Story

sample - n. a small amount of something that gives you information about the thing it was taken from

achieve - v. to succeed in doing something good, usually by working hard

basin - n. a wide area of land that is more or less round in shape and lower than its surroundings

impact - n. the force or action of one object hitting another

drill - v. to use a tool or machine to make holes in a hard substance

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

3 volcanic   

adj.火山的；象火山的；由火山引起的

参考例句：

• There have been several volcanic eruptions this year.今年火山爆发了好几次。
• Volcanic activity has created thermal springs and boiling mud pools.火山活动产生了温泉和沸腾的泥浆池。

4 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。