China set to fetch first rocks from mysterious far side of the Moon

Like its predecessor, the Chang’e-6 orbiter will drop a lander that will drill and scoop up 2 kilograms of soil and rock. An ascender module will ferry the samples back to the orbiter for the trip home and a final plunge by parachute in a return capsule, 53 days after launch.

Returned samples may also help explain why the Moon’s two faces are so different. The near side is paved by “maria”—smooth, sealike lava flows—and its crust is estimated to be 30 to 40 kilometers thick. The far side is pocked with impact craters and its crust is twice as thick. Even the compositions of the two sides differ.