China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe highlights the strides China is making in space exploration. European scientists also have intruments on board, but there is concern this cooperation won't be possible in future.
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00:00 A Chinese spacecraft carrying European instruments.
00:04 Launched at the beginning of May, Chang'e 6 is heading for the far side of the Moon.
00:13 Scientists from Europe are looking forward to sharing the results of a series of experiments there.
00:20 What impresses me a lot in the case of China and of the Moon program
00:25 is the very powerful roadmap that has been set up.
00:30 So far they've always been successful, so we are very confident that Chang'e 6 will work okay.
00:36 It is not the first time that a Chinese spacecraft will land on the far side of the Moon.
00:43 In 2019, the Chang'e 4 mission sent a rover there, which is still operating today.
00:50 Now the much bigger and heavier Chang'e 6 is set to collect rock samples from the far side and bring them back to Earth.
00:59 And it is carrying other specialized scientific equipment too, including from Toulouse.
01:06 French scientists at the Institute for Astrophysics and Planetology
01:10 spent several years developing a radon detector for the Moon's far side.
01:16 They built several identical modules. The one we see here is identical to the device installed on board Chang'e 6.
01:25 Here you have the eight detectors.
01:29 These eight detectors can detect alpha particles, which are generated by the decay of radon.
01:37 Radon is a gas that can provide valuable information about the presence of water in lunar soil.
01:44 Detecting radon is tricky due to the Moon's near vacuum conditions.
01:50 We compensate the small flux with having more detectors.
01:55 So we have a total of four detectors in the bottom rows, which are doubled.
02:01 We need to remain in the mass and volume envelope, which was allocated by our Chinese partners.
02:07 Too few atoms to detect is not the only challenge facing European scientists.
02:14 Ever-worsening geopolitical tensions could pose a threat to the more than three decades-long European-Chinese space cooperation,
02:22 and potentially make future lunar missions together less likely.
02:28 It is a question to see. You have the International Lunar Robotic Station, which is a Sino-Russian initiative.
02:36 It depends if the Chang'e 7 or Chang'e 8 missions are part of the ILRS, then it will be very difficult,
02:44 or actually impossible for Europe to cooperate on these missions.
02:49 For the moment of, the European-Chinese cooperation on lunar missions continues to run smoothly.
02:55 Besides the French radon detector, there is also equipment from Sweden and Italy on board, as well as from Pakistan.
03:03 The principle is that we don't exchange funds.
03:06 One institution provides the transport and the system, the other institution provides the instrument,
03:12 and the results are shared on an equal basis.
03:19 Despite the political challenges, scientists want to continue cooperations on future lunar and even Mars missions.
03:27 And in the meantime, the spacecraft Chang'e 6 is set to make its way back to Earth in a month from now.
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