Chang'e-6 lunar mission

[spacexplorer]

By schedule, C6 should be now in Moon orbit:

LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion)   T+3d   2024/05/07 00:00 UTC   

[spacexplorer]

 DORN instrument by CNES:

https://www.irap.omp.eu/en/2024/04/dorn-objective-moon/

Monday May 6, 2024: Chang’e 6’s journey will take 4 or 5 days to reach lunar orbit, before landing near the Moon’s south pole in early June. DORN will then activate for 48 hours: the amount of energy available is limited, and the lander has to carry out several missions. It will be the 1st French instrument active on the surface of our satellite (source CNES).


Official site: https://dorn.cnes.fr/fr/

[Liss]

By schedule, C6 should be now in Moon orbit:

LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion)   T+3d   2024/05/07 00:00 UTC   

Well, 00:00 UTC in this table is just a guess.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

By schedule, C6 should be now in Moon orbit:

LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion)   T+3d   2024/05/07 00:00 UTC   

Well, 00:00 UTC in this table is just a guess.

Radio tracking indicates LOI at ~03:00 UTC May 8th:

https://twitter.com/coastal8049/status/1787531656355618906

Tracking of Chang'e 6 continues with day 4 of it's journey to the Moon starting here.  As you can see there are no optical observations of CE6's journey as it's in the glare of the Sun.

Expecting arrival into lunar orbit around 2024-05-08T03:00 UTC.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Chang'e 6 has entered lunar orbit around 1 hour ago: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031700936265747

This is apparently into a 12 hours period retrograde orbit where Pakistan's ICUBE Q is planned to be deployed into. 2 more orbit lowering burns will occur in the coming days to lower its orbit (first to a 4 hours period elliptical one, then to 200 km circular orbit).

[spacexplorer]

By schedule, C6 should be now in Moon orbit:

LOI (Lunar Orbit Insertion)   T+3d   2024/05/07 00:00 UTC   

Well, 00:00 UTC in this table is just a guess.

It's not a guess, it's a pure invention :-) , I have no data at all about time, only date.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Chang'e 6 has entered lunar orbit around 1 hour ago: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031700936265747

This is apparently into a 12 hours period retrograde orbit where Pakistan's ICUBE Q is planned to be deployed into. 2 more orbit lowering burns will occur in the coming days to lower its orbit (first to a 4 hours period elliptical one, then to 200 km circular orbit).

Additional details per https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031719002706756:

* LOI was at 02:12 UTC
* Current orbit 200 x 8600 km (P=12h)
* Next orbit 200 x 2200 km (P=4h)
* Final orbit for orbiter 200 x 200 km (P=128 min)
* The lander will separate from the orbit from the 200 km orbit in the next few weeks.

[eeergo]

Chang'e 6 has entered lunar orbit around 1 hour ago: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031700936265747

This is apparently into a 12 hours period retrograde orbit where Pakistan's ICUBE Q is planned to be deployed into. 2 more orbit lowering burns will occur in the coming days to lower its orbit (first to a 4 hours period elliptical one, then to 200 km circular orbit).

Additional details per https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031719002706756:

* LOI was at 02:12 UTC
* Current orbit 200 x 8600 km (P=12h)
* Next orbit 200 x 2200 km (P=4h)
* Final orbit for orbiter 200 x 200 km (P=128 min)
* The lander will separate from the orbit from the 200 km orbit in the next few weeks.

ICUBE-Q should be separated in this preliminary current orbit, so soon.

[Svetoslav]

It's reported to have been deployed:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1186687-pakistans-first-lunar-mission-icube-qamar-deployed-in-orbit

[Emmettvonbrown]

Pakistan to the Moon ! Congrats to them. Smart idea, to hitch a ride on a Chinese probe. 

[deadman1204]

Pakistan to the Moon !

What a strange and wonderful world heh.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

It's reported to have been deployed:
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1186687-pakistans-first-lunar-mission-icube-qamar-deployed-in-orbit

Deployment apparently occurred at 08:14 UTC May 8th: https://m.weibo.cn/detail/5031902979557141

[Svetoslav]

Pakistani mission reported to has taken first image, thought I'm not sure what it shows:

https://gnnhd.tv/news/34789/first-image-from-icube-qamar-received

[Svetoslav]

Ah, here's an Image with the Moon in it:

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1187438-pakistan-s-maiden-lunar-mission-sends-first-image-from-space

[Blackstar]

https://www.leonarddavid.com/about-chinas-change-6-moon-rover-mystery-payload/

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Ah, here's an Image with the Moon in it:

https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1187438-pakistan-s-maiden-lunar-mission-sends-first-image-from-space

https://twitter.com/AJ_FI/status/1788848544218051024

Chang'e-6: Images from the Pakistan-China Icube-Q released from the Chang'e-6 spacecraft in lunar orbit. Images taken May 8-9, variously showing the Moon and Sun. [CNSA] https://cnsa.gov.cn/n6759533/c10528800/content.html

[Emmettvonbrown]

Wait, Yutu-2 is still alive after 5 years on the Moon ? no idea how much it travelled but, duration wise, it has pulverized Lunokhods records.
Sorry, off-topic.

[Blackstar]

Touchdown planned for early June:

https://www.leonarddavid.com/chinas-robotic-moon-lander-ready-for-farside-sampling/

[Galactic Penguin SST]

I was casually checking on other things and accidentally saw an update from an "insider" source (not gonna post the link here since I'm not sure if leaking this out is a problem; PM me if you want it) - it looks like the 2nd and 3rd lunar orbit insertion/circulation burns were performed on May 9th (~02:56 UTC, to 4 hours period elliptical orbit) and May 21st (~14:27 UTC, to 200 x 200 km x 43° LLO) respectively.

Neither of these were officially reported.

[Blackstar]

https://www.leonarddavid.com/china-prepares-for-far-side-moon-landing-sample-return/

Mission Timeline (5-24-24)
• 5-3-24: Launched
• 5-8-24: Entered a 12-hour lunar orbit (~200 X 380,000 km
altitude) begins circularizing orbit.
• 5-24-24: Currently; studying landing site areas for
accessibility and landing.
Following are in Beijing Times:
• 6-2-24: Descent and Landing: Surface sampling and
instrument observations for three days:
• 6-4-24: Ascent to lunar orbit:
• 6-6-24: Ascent module docks with orbiter, transfers
samples: Leave lunar orbit for trans-Earth coast:
• 6-25-24: Earth atmosphere reentry, descent and landing.
• -Samples recovered, returned to NAOC Beijing LRL, where
preliminary examination team undertakes description and
documentation prior to publication of the CE-6 sample catalog;
samples then become open for application to CNSA for
analysis to the scientific community.