Why is it in the news?

• China launched its Chang’e-6 mission to the far side of the Moon, aiming to bring back samples from this unexplored region.

More about the news

• The far side of the Moon, often called the dark side, is different from the near side and holds mysteries about the Moon’s origin and evolution.
• Chang’e-6 mission will explore the South Pole-Aitken basin, one of the largest impact basins in the solar system, to retrieve samples from the lunar mantle.
• China’s previous mission, Chang’e-4, achieved a soft landing on the far side of the Moon in 2019, making China the only country to do so.