China’s Chang’e 6 Moon probe has a mysterious visitor on board

China’s Chang’e 6 lunar probe mission is sure for the far facet of the Moon, and there appears to be a small rover affixed to the facet of the lander, as seen in new photographs launched by the China Academy of House Expertise (CAST).

China’s Nationwide House Administration introduced at this time that the probe, which launched final week, has efficiently entered the Moon’s orbit, an enormous step towards touchdown the spacecraft early subsequent month.

However as House.com experiences, folks have seen that CAST’s revealed photographs present a mysterious mini rover — one which appears too small for a long-term mission. The Shanghai Institute of Ceramics hints on its web site there may be an infrared imaging spectrometer on board that may very well be used to detect water in soil and rocks, as defined by SpaceNews.

China disclosed little on the Chang’e 6’s targets. It’s identified the place it is going to land and that there’s a objective to deliver again samples to Earth — just like China’s assortment of nearside samples on the Chang’e 5 mission in 2020. It’s additionally carrying payloads from France, Sweden, and Italy, in addition to a Pakistani CubeSat.

This isn’t the primary time China despatched a shock system to house. Throughout China’s Tianwen-1 mission to Mars in 2021, the CNSA shadow dropped a digital camera that took a selfie of the Zhurong rover.