Chang'e 4

The first spacecraft to land softly on the far side of the Moon.

Key facts

Agency

China National Space Administration

Type of mission

Lander and rover

Target

The Moon's far side: Von Kármán crater

Launched

7 December 2018

Status

Operating

Chang'e 4 touched down on 3 January 2019 in Von Kármán crater, a crater about 180 kilometres wide inside the vast South Pole–Aitken basin on the far side of the Moon. No spacecraft had landed there before. Because the far side never faces Earth, it talked to home through a relay satellite, Queqiao, launched in 2018 to a point beyond the Moon.

The Yutu-2 rover

The lander released a six-wheeled rover, Yutu-2, the Jade Rabbit. Designed for three months, it has driven well over a kilometre in the years since, resting through each two-week lunar night and waking with the sunrise.

What it found

Yutu-2's spectrometer found that the soil contains olivine and a type of pyroxene low in calcium. One explanation is that the giant impact that dug the South Pole–Aitken basin threw up material from the Moon's mantle, beneath the crust, which would be a rare chance to see it. Others think the minerals came from melted crust instead, and the question is still open.

Its ground-penetrating radar looked about 40 metres down and found layers of fine soil and broken debris laid down by repeated impacts. It also found a crater floor with a strange green, glassy material, probably made by impact melting.

Why it matters to meteorites

The far side is thought to be the source of many lunar meteorites. Chang'e 4 explored the same basin from which Chang'e 6 later returned samples.

Key dates

See where this mission fits among all the others in the mission timeline.

Did you know?

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