At an increasing pace, nations are succeeding in landing and conducting scientific operations on the moon. In 1966, the Soviet Union achieved the first lunar soft landing with Luna 9. The United States followed with five Surveyor landings from 1966 to 1968. China’s “Chang’e” program has achieved four landings since 2013, including robotic sample returns, the first far side landing, and far side sample return, with Chang’e 6 landing on June 2. On Aug. 23, 2023, India landed its Chandrayaan-3 module near the lunar south pole, becoming he fourth nation to achieve a successful soft landing. Chandrayaan-3’s Vikram lander and Pragyan rover marked the first uncrewed landing in this less-explored region. On Jan. 19, 2024, Japan successfully landed its SLIM lander, becoming the fifth nation.
Japan’s SLIM Lander
The Japanese Space Exploration Agency’s “Smart Lander for Investigating Moon” landed in Mare Nectaris, south of Theophilus crater.
Despite the successful landing, SLIM ended up on its side, with its solar panels facing away from the sun, hindering its ability to generate sufficient power. The lander operated briefly on internal battery power and released two hopping rovers. JAXA successfully checked in with the lander in February, March and April, with the probe surviving three frigid lunar nights. Contact was lost on May 27.
During its brief operational period, SLIM provided new insights into the moon’s surface, including evidence of the mineral olivine, a major component of Earth’s upper mantle.
NASA’s Lunar Lander
In February, the IM-1 lunar mission was executed by Intuitive Machines for NASA, utilizing a Nova-C lunar lander named Odysseus. This mission marked a significant milestone as Odysseus became the first commercial lunar lander to achieve a successful soft landing on the moon, landing at the Malapert-A crater, 190 miles from the lunar south pole on Feb. 22.
Odysseus tipped to a 30-degree angle due to excess horizontal velocity at touchdown, causing the loss of one or more landing struts. Despite this, all instrument payloads remained functional, and the mission was considered successful. Odysseus lander carried six NASA-developed payloads, as well as others from commercial and educational entities. These instruments, which included a laser retroreflector array, a lidar navigation device, a stereo camera, a low-frequency radio receiver, the Lunar Node-1 beacon and a propellant level monitor, all returned valuable data. On March 23, Intuitive Machines concluded that the lander did not survive the lunar night, officially ending the mission.
China Obtains Lunar Samples
China’s National Space Administration’s Chang’e 6 lunar lander mission has been successful. On the morning of June 2, Chang’e 6 landed in the previously unexplored Apollo Basin crater within the larger South Pole-Aitken Basin on the moon’s far side. The mission achieved a significant milestone when it drilled a core sample and lifted off to rendezvous with its lunar orbiter, preparing to return the sample to Earth. This achievement highlights the intensifying lunar space race between China and other nations, encompassing both robotic and upcoming crewed missions.
Chang’e 6 marks China’s second and unique successful soft landing on the moon’s far side, the hemisphere that never faces Earth. The mission has progressed rapidly, with CNSA releasing video of the samples collected by the lander over two days. The samples were launched into orbit on June 4. After about six minutes, it entered the targeted orbit to begin maneuvers to rendezvous with its orbiter.
The sample canister parachuted back to Earth on June 25, 2024, marking the first time samples from the moon’s far side have been returned to Earth for study.
Named after the Chinese goddess of the moon, Chang’e 6 follows Chang’e 4, which was the first to land on the far side of the moon in early 2019. Chang’e 5, which landed on the near side in the Mons Rumker region of Oceanus Procellarum in late 2020, also successfully returned samples to Earth.
In a recent study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Yuqi Qian, Joseph Michalski and Guochun Zhao from the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Earth Sciences analyzed volcanism in the Apollo basin and its implications for Chang’e-6 samples. Their research identified two volcanic events in the area. The first occurred around 3.34 billion years ago, had low-Ti composition. The second eruption, about 3.07 billion years ago, had high-Ti composition and spread eastward.
The high-Ti basalts in the western region hold the greatest scientific interest.
“Diverse sample sources would provide important insights into solving a series of lunar scientific questions hidden in the Apollo basin,” noted Michalski.
Upcoming Chang’e missions will focus on the lunar south pole. Chang’e 7, scheduled for 2026, aims to search for water ice deposits, while Chang’e 8, planned for 2028, will explore the potential in-situ utilization of these resources. These missions are intended to pave the way for using lunar materials to support crewed lunar exploration, with CNSA planning to send humans to the moon by 2030.
India’s Moon Missions
The Chandrayaan Lunar Exploration Program is an ongoing initiative by the Indian Space Research Organization. This program includes a series of missions featuring lunar orbiters, an impactor, a soft lander and rover spacecraft.
So far, there have been three missions involving two orbiters, landers and rovers each. The two orbiters were successful, but the first lander and rover, part of the Chandrayaan-2 mission, crashed on the lunar surface. However, the second lander and rover mission, Chandrayaan-3, successfully landed on the moon on Aug. 23, 2023. This achievement made India the first nation to land a spacecraft in the lunar south pole region.
Artemis Lunar Exploration Program
As reported in the July 22 EXPLORER, NASA’s Artemis program aims to reestablish a human presence on the moon – the first since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972, with a long-term goal of creating a permanent lunar base to support human missions to Mars. An article in the December 2022 EXPLORER detailed the Artemis I uncrewed flight test. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, carrying the Orion spacecraft, launched on Nov. 16, 2022. This mission included a lunar flyby on Nov. 21, a six-day orbit in a distant retrograde, and a second lunar flyby on Dec. 5.
Artemis II, scheduled for September 2025, will be the first crewed flight around the moon. The four crew members will conduct extensive testing in Earth orbit before Orion follows a free-return trajectory around the moon, ultimately returning to Earth for re-entry and splashdown.
Crew safety dictates the schedule changes for Artemis II. As the first crewed test flight of the Orion spacecraft, the mission will evaluate critical environmental control and life support systems necessary for astronaut safety. NASA’s tests to qualify these components have revealed issues requiring additional time to resolve, including a battery problem and challenges with a circuitry component responsible for air ventilation and temperature control. NASA’s investigation into the unexpected loss of char layer pieces from the spacecraft’s heat shield during Artemis I is expected to conclude this spring. The team has conducted thorough sampling, testing and data review to understand the issue. During Artemis II, the crew will perform extensive testing in Earth orbit before Orion takes a free-return trajectory around the moon, returning to Earth for re-entry and splashdown.
Artemis III, targeted for no earlier than September 2026, will be the first crewed lunar landing of the Artemis program, with two astronauts planned to descend to the moon’s surface using SpaceX’s Starship as the lander. Before this mission, SpaceX must complete dozens of successful reusable Starship flights without a crew. This mission will mark the first American crewed lunar landing since Apollo 17 in December 1972 and will place astronauts near the lunar south pole. The SLS/Orion will transport a crew of four in the Orion spacecraft to dock with the Starship HLS. Two astronauts will transfer to the HLS, descend to the lunar surface, and conduct about 6.5 days of surface operations, including at least two extravehicular activities before returning to Orion for the journey back to Earth.
Artemis IV, planned for September 2028, will be the second Artemis crewed lunar landing and the first to use an upgraded Space Launch System rocket, also involving a Starship HLS lunar landing.
The Artemis Base Camp is envisioned to be established by the end of the 2020s, located in the lunar south pole region near the Shackleton and de-Gerlache craters. This site is chosen for its diverse lunar geography and the suspected abundance of water ice in the crater floors.
Pressurized Lunar Rover from JAXA
On April 9, 2024, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Japan’s Minister Masahito Moriyama signed an agreement to further sustainable human exploration of the moon. Japan will design, develop and operate a pressurized rover for both crewed lunar exploration. NASA will launch and deliver this rover to the moon and include Japanese astronauts on future missions.
The rover, nicknamed the “Lunar Cruiser,” is being developed jointly by JAXA and Toyota. It will enable astronauts to take trips across the moon lasting 30-45 days and live independently from the lunar station using its own support system. Currently in the manufacturing phase, the Lunar Cruiser is expected to launch in the late 2020s, utilizing fuel-cell electric-vehicle technology.
The New Space Race
Robotic exploration is paving the way to human settlements at the lunar south pole, and that opportunity is leading to competition.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson sees the United States in an urgent race with China. China is hoping to land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade. As we have seen, China launched a probe to gather samples from the far side of the Moon and returned them to Earth. India and other countries have landed uncrewed craft on the moon in recent years as well.
Nelson said, “I know what China has done (in) the South China Sea. I don’t want them to get to the (lunar) south pole where the water is. There are limited areas that you can land. I don’t want them to get there and say, ‘This is ours. You stay out.’ It ought to be for the international community, for scientific research. So that’s why I think it’s important for us to get there first.”
Liu Pengyu of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, said, “Outer space is not a wrestling ground. The exploration and peaceful uses of outer space is humanity’s common endeavor and should benefit all. China always advocates the peaceful use of outer space and works actively toward building a community with a shared future for mankind in the space domain.”