A Chinese delegation made up of scientists and engineers from the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications Technology, China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General Center and Beijing Aerospace Control Center have visited the Canary Islands Space Center to talk about the support that INTA will give to the Chang'e mission -6, which will be released in May this year. The National Institute of Aerospace Technology, as Maspalomas24H has learned, the head of the Chinese delegation expressed his satisfaction and desire to create a CLTC-INTA agreement to offer INTA the use of the international network of Chinese antennas, in addition to requesting Possible installation of its own antenna in Maspalomas.
Chang'e is the name of the Chinese goddess of the Moon. The Chang'e-6 mission pursues exploration to collect lunar samples, like the last Chang'e-5. This mission had support from the Canary Islands Space Center at the end of 2020, during the early launch phases and re-entry of the lunar module. According to the reporting source, the delegation staff visited the center's facilities and showed great interest in the control and operations room, as well as the 15-meter antenna. China has launched several robotic lunar missions, such as Chang'e 1, which orbited the moon in 2007, and Chang'e 2, which did so in 2010. In addition, China has managed to land on the lunar surface with Chang'e 3. , which carried the first Chinese lunar rover, called Yutu, in 2013, and with Chang'e 4, which made history by landing on the far side of the moon, where it deployed the Yutu-2 rover, in 2019.
These missions have made it possible to obtain valuable scientific information about lunar geology, topography, environment and resources. For example, China has found a previously unknown mineral in its lunar exploration and has confirmed the existence of a water reserve of 270.000 billion tons in the lunar soil. It has also established communication with other lunar probes, such as the Japanese SLIM, which landed near Chang'e 4 in 2024. The ultimate goal of the Chinese lunar exploration program is to send a manned mission to the moon in 2027, for which is developing a new spacecraft and a Long March 9 rocket. China aspires to become a space power and contribute to the knowledge and development of humanity.
