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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured an image of China's Chang'e 6 sample return spacecraft on the Moon's far side on June 7. Chang'e 6 had landed on June 1, and LRO imaged the lander on the rim of an eroded crater approximately 55 yards (50 meters) in diameter nearly a week later.
The LRO Camera team calculated the landing site coordinates to be around 42 degrees south latit by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jun 18, 2024
NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) captured an image of China's Chang'e 6 sample return spacecraft on the Moon's far side on June 7. Chang'e 6 had landed on June 1, and LRO imaged the lander on the rim of an eroded crater approximately 55 yards (50 meters) in diameter nearly a week later.
The LRO Camera team calculated the landing site coordinates to be around 42 degrees south latitude, 206 degrees east longitude, at an elevation of about minus 3.27 miles (minus 5,256 meters).
The Chang'e 6 landing site is near the southern edge of the Apollo basin, which is approximately 306 miles (492 km) in diameter, centered at 36.1 degrees south latitude, 208.3 degrees east longitude. Basaltic lava erupted south of Chaffee S crater about 3.1 billion years ago and flowed downhill to the west until it encountered a local topographic high, likely due to a fault. Several wrinkle ridges in this region have deformed and raised the mare surface.
The landing site is positioned about halfway between two of these prominent ridges. This basaltic flow also overlaps a slightly older flow, about 3.3 billion years old, visible further west. The younger flow is distinct due to its higher iron oxide and titanium dioxide abundances.
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