China Donates Sample from Far Side South Pole of The Moon to United Nations
China officially donated a lunar sample collected by the Chang'e-6 Mission to the United Nations (UN) at a handover ceremony on September 14, 2026, at the UN Office in Vienna, Austria, marking the first time that a lunar sample from the far side of the Moon has been presented to the organization.
In 2024, the Chang'e-6 probe made history by collecting humanity's first-ever sampling of 1,935.3 grams of lunar far-side samples from the South Pole-Aitken basin, the largest, deepest, and oldest basin on the Moon, and bringing them back to Earth.
The mission carried scientific payloads from France, Italy, Sweden, and Pakistan, including the French radon gas detector (CNES), the European Space Agency/Swedish ion analyzer, and the Italian laser corner reflector (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana).
Chang'e-6 successfully deployed Pakistan's ICUBE-Q satellite, releasing it into lunar orbit on May 8, 2024. The 15.4-pound (7 kilogram) small satellite captured images of the Moon and Sun and collected magnetic field data.
China's Chang'e-5 probe landed in 2020 on the northwest region of the Ocean of Storms, a vast lunar plain on the western edge of the near side of the Moon, where it collected ~1731 g (61.1 oz) of lunar samples (including from a core ~1 meter deep).
Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 53 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 15, 2026
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