Landing site of the Chang’e-6 lunar farside sample return mission from the Apollo basin

Abstract

To address questions about the multiple lunar nearside–farside dichotomies and to provide new insights into both the early impact history of the Solar System and the geological evolution of the Moon, the Chang’e-6 (CE-6) landing zone has been selected to lie within the lunar farside South Pole–Aitken (SPA) basin in the southern part of the Apollo basin (150–158° W, 41–45° S), a site that provides access to a diversity of SPA material. Here, we describe the geomorphology, geology and chronology of three candidate sampling sites within this zone that are likely to ensure safe landing and sampling. The geological characteristics indicate that CE-6 is expected to collect lunar farside SPA ejecta fragments, possible mantle material and young (roughly 2.40 Gyr-year-old) and/or old (roughly 3.43 Gyr-year-old) basaltic material, all of which will provide important guidance for future in situ farside sample collection and deepen our understanding of the evolution of the Moon.