Moon Samples News Today

Chinese spacecraft begins 53-day journey to collect soil and rocks and bring them back to Earth for scientific study.

China announced on Wednesday its plan to launch the lunar probe Change-6 on Friday, aiming to collect samples from the far side of the moon, marking the first such mission in human history, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Preparations for the mission, including refueling the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket, are underway at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan Province.

During the various previous Moon missions, samples of the lunar rocks and soil have been brought back to study its origins and atmosphere.

The Atlantic Scientists Really, Really Want a Piece of Mars A new NASA rover has jump-started an intense effort to finally bring home a pristine sample from the red planet. Updated at 2:06 p.m. ET on Feb. 19, 2021. When Mike Zolensky saw the night sky over the Australian desert glow red in June of 2010, he knew: The long-awaited object had plunged through the atmosphere and fallen to Earth. Zolensky, a curator of astromaterials, and dozens of others leapt into action. The team dispatched a heli...