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00:00China's Change-6 probe has landed back on Earth with the world's first ever rock samples
00:05from the far side of the moon.
00:08The probe landed in northern China Tuesday afternoon in the Inner Mongolian region.
00:12We're going to talk more about this accomplishment now with space expert Olivier Sangui, who's
00:17the editor-in-chief of Space News in Toulouse.
00:19Olivier, thanks for taking the time to speak to us.
00:22Now, previous U.S. or Soviet missions have collected samples from the moon's nearside.
00:27This Chinese mission was the first ever to collect samples from the other side.
00:31Why is that such a feat?
00:32Well, it's a feat because it is a fully automatic mission.
00:36And if you look at how they did it, it's in fact an Apollo-style mission, smaller and
00:42fully automatic.
00:43So it's really a sort of rehearsal of a future manned mission for China.
00:47So just explain to us, what's the difference between the far and the near side of the moon?
00:51Why is it so difficult to get to the far side?
00:54The far side is the side we don't see because when the moon does a revolution around the
00:59Earth, it rotates at the same time.
01:01So we don't see the far side.
01:04We saw it with probes during the Apollo missions.
01:07And also, you don't have radio communication.
01:09When you are on the far side, there is a moon, and it blocks every communication.
01:12So before sending Chang'e 6, they send a satellite, so it can bounce radio transmission towards
01:19the Earth.
01:20So now, for the first time ever, we have these rock samples from the far side of the moon.
01:25What can they tell us?
01:26What can we learn from them?
01:28Well, we can learn the history of Earth.
01:30It sounds a bit curious, but it is.
01:33Remember that the moon was formed around 4.5 billion years with a huge impact.
01:37So the moon is a part of Earth, of the original Earth.
01:41And when you study the moon, you study the histories of Earth.
01:44And also, the far side is very different from the near side.
01:47There is a lot of craters on the far side.
01:50There is no lunar maia, the seas, which are not seas, of course.
01:53These are lava plains.
01:55And so we want to understand why this difference.
01:57And understanding this difference with lunar samples, maybe there will be composition differences
02:03between far side and near side.
02:04And maybe we can reconstitute the history of the far side.
02:09So now China is really going full steam ahead with its space program, now shooting to land
02:13astronauts on the moon by 2030.
02:16That's just six years away.
02:18Do you think that that's likely to happen?
02:20Oh, I think it's possible.
02:22Maybe even 2029, because it will be a very important year for China.
02:27You know, the People's Republic of China will have 80 years.
02:30It will be very symbolic.
02:32But China also shows that they don't want to ask things.
02:35They don't want to do it fast.
02:37They want to do it with success.
02:39And that's very important for them.
02:41And so for a lot of success for China, I mean, it was the first country to put a craft on
02:45the dark side of the moon in 2019.
02:47Now, this successful mission today, what does all of this say about China's place in
02:51the space race, particularly in regard to the U.S., which for now is still the leader
02:55in space exploration?
02:56Yes, but China has a very interesting program.
03:00They do step by step mission.
03:01And each time they complexify the mission.
03:04They landed on the moon and then landed on the far side.
03:07They did a return sample before, now they're doing a return sample from the far side.
03:11You see step by step.
03:13They do have their own space station with three astronauts also.
03:17They landed on Mars.
03:19So maybe they will do a sample return from Mars before the Europeans and Americans.
03:26And politically, it's important.
03:28China is saying we are a technological country.
03:32In the meantime, though, China is working with other nations, is working with France,
03:36for example, on a satellite that was just launched Saturday.
03:39That's the most powerful yet for studying the farthest explosion of stars.
03:43What more can you tell us about that and that collaboration with France?
03:46Well, the collaboration, scientific collaboration, is a tradition in space.
03:51And China uses this tradition also.
03:54You can do diplomatic ties with scientific collaboration.
03:58There is also an instrument, a French instrument, on the moon with Chang'e 6.
04:02So you see, China is saying we are a country that allows to do science, not only just war
04:12or, you know, commerce or something like that.
04:15We are doing science and we do diplomatic ties with science.
04:20We will see with the geopolitical, of course, what is happening, what we'll do.
04:25Olivier, just to wrap up, what is the ultimate challenge for China?
04:28What would really be the thing that would make it the number one in the space race?
04:33Well, I think that first of all, perhaps they want to do a Martian sample return before
04:40the United States.
04:41It's possible because the American program is late and over budget.
04:46And after maybe we do a manned Mars mission, they said we are thinking about it.
04:51All right, Olivier, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us there.
04:55Space expert Olivier Sanghi, the editor-in-chief of Space News, talking to me from Toulouse.