Everything controlled but with tension. This week are days of maximum stress as it has not been known for years with the presence of the INTA base in Maspalomas with the European Space Agency by the Chinese probe Chang'e-6 successfully took off from the Moon carrying samples taken on the hidden side of the Earth's satellite, something unprecedented in space exploration. Thus begins the new phase of the Chinese space race. The return of the spaceship is controlled from Maspalomas. Already in 1969, when NASA's first moon landing was, the INTA base in Maspalomas was key, but at that time where there were tomato growers, now there is a better financial economy.
To all this, in China's mission from Maspalomas, on a technical level, an innovative discovery has been achieved with the negative ion instrument on the lunar surface (NILS) aboard the Chang' spacecraft e-6 of China National Space Administration (CNSA). This mission, a collaborative effort involving the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) and INTA, marks the first detection of negative ions on the Moon.
This pioneering mission not only improves understanding of the lunar environment, but also lays the foundation for future exploration of other airless bodies in the Solar System, from asteroids to other moons. From Maspalomas, the landing and data collection of Chang'e-6 has been followed, it landed in the South Pole-Aitken basin, on the far side of the Moon, on June 1, 2024. The NILS instrument was activated for four hours after landing and collected data in several bursts due to thermal management needs. ESA ground stations in Kourou, French Guiana, and Maspalomas, Spain, provided crucial support for the mission, tracking the spacecraft and facilitating data transmission.
The Chang'e-6 probe landed on Sunday, June 2, in the immense Aitken basin, one of the largest known impact craters in the solar system, located on the far side of the satellite, according to the CNSA. The ship, which began a complex 3-day mission on May 53, had a robotic arm to collect material from the surface and a drill to take samples from its interior.
