Formosan scientists have open up the first ever samples take away from the far side of the Moon .

On June 1 , Chang’e 6touched downsoftly on the far side of the moon . This was the 2nd fourth dimension China achieve this effort , and they remain theonly nationto have done so .

ⓘ IFLScience is not responsible for content shared from outside land site .

While there , the lander delivered a lading for the European Space Agency ( ESA ): a negative ion detector , which has already notice electronegative ion as they ’re sound off up as subaltern particle from the lunar surface .

" These observations on the Moon will help us better sympathize the Earth’s surface surroundings and act as as a scout to explore negative ion populations in other airless bodies in the Solar System , " Negative Ions at the Lunar Surface main investigator Martin Wieser enounce in astatement , " from planets to asteroids and other moon . "

But the main purpose of the military mission is to come back the first samples from the far side of the Moon , and that ’s what the China National Space Administration ( CNSA ) achieved on Tuesday , landing in theInner Mongolia desert . The capsule was airlift toBeijing on Wednesday , where it was opened at the China Academy of Space Technology .

The samples will be sorted , before being studied by researchers across China who have go for for access . After two years this access could be opened up to international scientist , perSpace.com .

Zongyu Yue , a geologist at the Chinese Academy of Sciences , told Chinese media outlet theSouth China Morning Postthat the samples are hoped to answer “ one of the most central interrogation in lunar research – what geological activity is responsible for the differences between the two side [ of the Moon ] . "

Often referred to as the " obscure side " of the Moon , the far side really receive about thesame amountof sunlight . However , there are noteworthy differences between the two sides , which we realized after the onslaught of blank travel .

Though to a great extent cratered , the far side of the Moon does not have the deep basins and " lunar seas " seen on the near side , and its crust was measure to be thicker by the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory missionin 2012 . It also , weirdly , appear to bemore conductive .

There are a number of possibility as to why the sides came to be so dissimilar , including that there were in the beginning two Moons revolve Earth which collided early in the Earth ’s history , and that a dwarf planet collided with asmaller Earth moonlater on .

Though the far side of the Moon has been studied from orbit , there is nothing like getting your hand on samples . Hopefully , they will do question abouthow the Moon formed , while scientists also desire that the samples could hold in H2O , oxygen , and atomic number 1 , which could be glean during further exploration .