ISLAMABAD – Pakistan’s first lunar mission ICUBE-Qamar on board China’s Chang’e-6 has successfully entered lunar orbit, five days after its launch.
Chang’e-6 spacecraft successfully performed a near-moon braking maneuver before entering the circumlunar orbit at 10:12 a.m. (0212GMT), reports said quoting the China National Space Administration.
It was reported that the maneuver of Chang’e-6 was crucial to cut its speed relative to the moon’s escape velocity, allowing it to be captured by the moon’s gravity and orbit the moon.
Chang’e-6 was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in China. The orbiter carrying two optical cameras for imaging the lunar surface, was developed by Pakistan’s Institute of Space Technology in collaboration with China’s Shanghai University and Pakistan’s national space agency, SUPARCO.
The mission is to support scientific research, technology development, and educational initiatives in space exploration.
Chang’e-6 probe will collect samples from the far side of the moon, making it the first mission of its kind in human history. Similar to its predecessor Chang’e-5, the spacecraft consists of an orbiter, a lander, an ascender, and a returner. Chang’e-5 returned to Earth in December 2020 with the first lunar soil samples in over four decades.
In addition to the CubeSats from Pakistan, the Chang’e-6 mission carries several other international payloads to the moon, including the European Space Agency’s lunar surface ion analyzer, France’s radon detection instrument, and Italy’s laser corner reflector.
Pakistan successfully launches first lunar orbit mission ‘ICUBE-Qamar’
