Chang'e-6 bags precious lunar sample in Earth-returning vehicle, US alone in 'space race' narrative: observers

 

China spacecraft Chang'e-6 first to collect samples from far side of the moon - BBC News

A picture of the Chang'e-6 lunar probe's lander and ascender vehicles on the surface of far side of moon taken by a mobile camera on June 3, 2024 Photo: Courtesy of the CNSA

Two days after lifting off from the moon's surface, the ascender of China's Chang'e-6 lunar probe completed a rendezvous and docking with the orbiter-returner combination, delivering the world's first lunar samples collected from the far side of the moon to the Earth-returning vehicle on Thursday afternoon.

The Global Times learned from the China National Space Administration (CNSA) on Thursday that the rendezvous and docking took place at 2:48 pm Thursday and the safe transferring of lunar samples at 3:24 pm. This marks the second time China has achieved a lunar orbit rendezvous and docking, following Chang'e-5.

After its epic lift-off from the far side of the moon on Tuesday morning, the ascender of Chang'e-6, carrying the lunar samples, entered the lunar orbit and carried out four orbit adjustments, per the CNSA. 

When the ascender was about 50 kilometers ahead and 10 kilometers above the orbiter-returner combination, the orbiter andreturner combination used close-range autonomous control to gradually approach the ascender, completing the orbital rendezvous, according to mission insiders. 

The orbiter's three sets of K-shaped grappling claws aligned with the three connecting rods on the ascender's docking surface, securely connecting the two devices by tightening the claws, precisely completing the docking. 

After that, the container holding the precious samples from the far side of the moon was safely transferred from the ascender to the returner.

The Chang'e 6 orbiter and returner combination will next separate from the ascender and enter a lunar orbit waiting phase, preparing for a lunar-to-Earth transfer orbit control at an opportune time, according to the mission plan. 

After undergoing key steps such as the lunar-to-Earth transfer and the separation of the orbiter and returner, the returner is scheduled to land with the lunar samples at the Siziwang Banner landing site in North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Open to cooperation with US

Chang'e-6 completed the world's first-ever mission of collecting samples from the far side of the moon and is on its way home. This is a historic step in humanity's peaceful use of space, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said during a routine press conference on Thursday. 

When commenting on reports of NASA's congratulations on the latest leap in China's decades-long moon exploration, Mao told the Global Times on Thursday that China is always open toward space exchanges and cooperation with the US. 

The two sides established mechanisms such as the working group on Earth science and space science cooperation, and the China-US Civil Space Dialogue. At US request, the competent authorities of the two countries established a mechanism to exchange orbit data on each other's Mars probes to ensure long-term successful mission operation, according to the spokesperson.

There are, however, difficulties in China-US space cooperation at the moment, which are caused by US domestic legislation such as the Wolf Amendment that prevents normal exchanges and dialogue between Chinese and US space agencies, Mao said.

"If the US truly wants to push forward space exchanges and cooperation with China, it needs to take practical steps to remove these obstacles," Mao noted. 

The achievements of China's ongoing Chang'e-6 moon probe mission thus far have evidently become a source of anxiety for the US amid the Western media's fabricated hot saga of the US-China space race, Chinese space observers said on Thursday.

When covering the ascender of Chang'e-6's lift-off from moon surface, US media outlet CNN reported on Tuesday that the successful return of the samples would give China a head start in harnessing the strategic and scientific benefits of expanded lunar exploration - an increasingly competitive field that has contributed to what NASA chief Bill Nelson calls a new "space race."

When asked which country would be the first to have a base on the moon, Keith Cowing, former American rocket scientist and current editor of NASAWatch.com, bluntly said that it might be China. "We (the US) are trying to get there first… but we will land next to them (China), roll down our window and say 'Hi, y'all, where do you want us to park our big lander'."

During the same interview with DW, David Ariosto, an American journalist and founder of Space Watch Daily, said that China has the edge at this point, but that could change.

The anxiety and sour grapes mentality are quite evident on the US side, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times on Thursday.

When handling ties with China, the US is desperate to hold an absolute edge over China in all spheres including the space domain to deal with China's rapid development. The obstacles are rooted in this mentality, Li noted. "Strategically, the US is also unwilling to be on an equal footing with China in space. This mind-set is deeply ingrained and traditional, making it difficult to change. This is also an important factor."

US media and the head of NASA have repeatedly tried to stir up the US-China space race narrative, aiming to increase investment in the space sector and accelerating technological progress and related activities in space, Chinese observers said. 

The US wants to create a scenario of mutual confrontation rather than cooperation, which has led to the so-called space race the US desires. However, at present, the conditions for such a race do not exist because China and other countries are not willing to participate. If only the US is invested in it, it can't be called a race. In the end, it becomes a one-sided effort by the US, they said. 

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This image taken from video animation at Beijing Aerospace Control Center on June 2, 2024 shows the lander-ascender combination of Chang'e 6 probe touches down on the far side of the moon. Photo: VCG

China has successfully landed its second spacecraft - the Chang'e-6 unmanned probe - on the Moon's far side on Sunday, when no other country has done it once. The feat marks a key milestone in achieving its mission to bring home, for the first time in human history, samples from an unexplored region from Earth's natural satellite, as stargazers around the world hold their breaths for this epic moment. 

Sunday's historic moment was also hailed by Western media. Chinese experts said while the US is setting unrealistic, grand goals but giving it a tight schedule in order to outpace China, China is steadily moving forward step by step, achieving concrete and rich results.

The lander-ascender combination of the Chang'e-6 probe, after traveling in orbit for some 30 days since its May 3 launch, touched down at the designated landing area at 6:23 am (Beijing Time) in the South Pole-Aitken (SPA) Basin, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced.

The powered descent began at 6:09 am. The main engine with variable thrust was ignited, and the combination quickly adjusted its attitude and gradually approached the lunar surface.

Soft landing on the Moon has always been a key hurdle for countries around the world in their lunar explorations. Last August, India became the fourth country following the US, the former Soviet Union and China to conquer the feat with its Chandrayaan-3 probe, after its first such attempt failed in 2019. 

Japan also made it to the Moon in January this year, but its SLIM lander overturned during the process of landing, arriving upside-down on the lunar surface which put the solar panels in shadow and soon resulting in battery shortage for the lander. 

Landing on the far side of the Moon is even more challenging, or as some have described it, the moment where the chance of failure is the highest. This is because the far side is always facing away from the Earth and is marked by numerous deep and shadowy craters, making it difficult to have direct communications and posing high demand for robotic landing operations, experts said. 

"It's just like landing a small truck in the midst of towering mountains and ridges, where every step must be taken seriously," Xinhua News Agency said in a report on Sunday.

Wang Ya'nan, chief editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times that the smooth soft landing signaled China's competent lunar landing techniques, with the Queqiao-2 relay satellite providing sufficient communication efficiency and transmission rates, managing to bridge the communication link when ground control cannot directly observe the status of the lunar rover. 

Despite having communication relays on the far side, however, the transmission signals still had time delays, which required the Chang'e-6 probe adjusting its position and making obstacle avoidances all by itself. Such real-time responses need a highly intelligent and automated system, Wang said. 

Within 48 hours after landing, a robotic arm will be extended to scoop rocks and soil from the lunar surface, and a drill will bore into the ground. 

Due to the moon's obstruction, the Earth-moon communication window period on the far side of the moon, even with the help of the Queqiao-2 relay satellite service, is still shorter than that on the near side. Therefore, the sampling time of Chang'e-6 will be reduced to only 14 hours, compared with the 22 hours used by its predecessor Chang'e-5, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Steady progress

The historic moment made by the Chang'e-6 mission has made headlines in multiple mainstream Western media outlets. 

The AP said the Chnag'e-6 could provide insights into differences between the less-explored region and the better-known near side.

The AP described the moon program as "part of a growing rivalry with the US - still the leader in space exploration - and others."

Reuters, on Sunday, also reported that "the landing elevates China's space power status in a global rush to the moon," where countries including the US are hoping to exploit lunar minerals to sustain long-term astronaut missions and moon bases within the next decade.

The US also has its own ambitious moon program called the Artemis. The program envisions a crewed moon landing by late 2026, relying heavily on private companies. However, the program has met several major delays that put a question mark on whether it could meet its grand goals. 

Following a successful uncrewed test flight in late 2022, NASA had planned to launch a crewed lunar flyby mission called Artemis II in November 2024. In a press briefing in January, NASA officials revealed that the mission would be delayed until September 2025. Artemis III - the program's first crewed lunar landing - has slipped as well, pushed back to September 2026, according to publications.

The US' moon program is featured by is its grandiose goals, Wang said. The expert took an example of the Gateway Space Station around the moon by NASA and using it as a base for manned lunar exploration, "possibly even venturing into deeper space from this point."

However, it seems contradictory that while pursuing such grandiose goals, the US has set a tight schedule for its technical research and development, as the US government is determined to "being faster than China," Wang noted. 

The expert further noted that while the US' manned lunar landing aims to make a revolutionary leap from the Apollo program decades ago, it set an ambitious deadline around 2026, which will inevitably pose significant technical risks, highlighting the uncertainty in the current US lunar exploration efforts. 

In contrast, China's lunar exploration project has been built step by step, relying on the footsteps of previous missions. It would be a natural outcome if China could land its taikonauts on the moon by 2030, Wang believes.

Wang noted that China is steadily moving forward, leaving clear footprints and achieving fruitful results. "If Chang'e-6 successfully returns with samples from the moon's far side, these samples will provide key information for understanding the moon's origins, geological changes, and even some information about the early formation of the universe."

With China's continuous success in deep space exploration, the prospects for international cooperation are expanding, observers said. China's high success rate in deep space exploration, particularly lunar missions, demonstrates its reliability and safety in operating unmanned spacecraft, making it an ideal partner for collaboration.

In the current era of increased geopolitical tensions, the Chang'e 6 mission is "a rare example of constructive international collaboration," Richard de Grijs, Professor of Astrophysics, Macquarie University in Australia was quoted as saying in The Conversation. 

The Chang'e-6 mission has brought up four international payloads to the Moon, including the European Space Agency's lunar surface ion composition analyzer, France's radon detection instrument, Italy's laser corner reflector, and a CubeSat from Pakistan, the CNSA revealed to the Global Times. Now the payloads will begin conducting scientific research as planned, the administration said. 

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Alliance seeks to use alternative open source software 

SAN FRANCISCO: Nvidia earned its US$2.2 trillion market cap by producing artificial-intelligence (AI) chips that have become the lifeblood powering the new era of generative AI developers from startups to Microsoft, OpenAI and Google parent Alphabet .

Almost as important to its hardware is the company’s nearly 20 years’ worth of computer code, which helps make competition with the company nearly impossible. More than four million global developers rely on Nvidia’s Cuda software platform to build AI and other apps.

Now a coalition of tech companies that includes Qualcomm, Google and Intel plans to loosen Nvidia’s chokehold by going after the chip giant’s secret weapon: the software that keeps developers tied to Nvidia chips.

They are part of an expanding group of financiers and companies hacking away at Nvidia’s dominance in AI.

“We’re actually showing developers how you migrate out from an Nvidia platform,” Vinesh Sukumar, Qualcomm’s head of AI and machine learning, said in an interview with Reuters.

Starting with a piece of technology developed by Intel called OneAPI, the UXL Foundation, a consortium of tech companies, plans to build a suite of software and tools that will be able to power multiple types of AI accelerator chips, executives involved with the group told Reuters.

The open-source project aims to make computer code run on any machine, regardless of what chip and hardware powers it.

“It’s about specifically – in the context of machine learning frameworks – how do we create an open ecosystem, and promote productivity and choice in hardware,” Google’s director and chief technologist of high-performance computing, Bill Magro, said in an interview.

Google is one of the founding members of UXL and helps determine the technical direction of the project, Magro said.

UXL’s technical steering committee is preparing to nail down technical specifications in the first half of this year. Engineers plan to refine the technical details to a “mature” state by the end of the year, executives said.

These executives stressed the need to build a solid foundation to include contributions from multiple companies that can also be deployed on any chip or hardware.

Beyond the initial companies involved, UXL will court cloud-computing companies such as Amazon.com and Microsoft’s Azure, as well as additional chipmakers.

Since its launch in September, UXL has already begun to receive technical contributions from third parties that include foundation members and outsiders keen on using the open-source technology, the executives involved said.

Intel’s OneAPI is already usable, and the second step is to create a standard programming model of computing designed for AI.

UXL plans to put its resources toward addressing the most pressing computing problems dominated by a few chipmakers, such as the latest AI apps and high-performance computing applications.

Those early plans feed into the organisation’s longer-term goal of winning over a critical mass of developers to its platform.

UXL eventually aims to support Nvidia hardware and code, in the long run.

When asked about the open source and venture-funded software efforts to break Nvidia’s AI dominance, Nvidia executive Ian Buck said in a statement: “The world is getting accelerated. New ideas in accelerated computing are coming from all across the ecosystem, and that will help advance AI and the scope of what accelerated computing can achieve.”

The UXL Foundation’s plans are one of many efforts to chip away at Nvidia’s hold on the software that powers AI. Venture financiers and corporate dollars have poured more than US$4bil into 93 separate efforts, according to custom data compiled by PitchBook at Reuters’ request.

The interest in unseating Nvidia through a potential weakness in software has ramped up in the last year, and startups aiming to poke holes in the company’s leadership gobbled up just over US$2bil in 2023 compared with US$580mil from a year ago, according to the data from PitchBook.

Success in the shadow of Nvidia’s group on AI data crunching is an achievement that few of the startups will be able to achieve.

Nvidia’s Cuda is a compelling piece of software on paper, as it is full-featured and is consistently growing both from Nvidia’s contributions and the developer community. — Reuters

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YTL AI Cloud to deploy advanced supercomputer

YTL said the YTL AI Supercomputer will be located in a 664ha data centre facility in the YTL Green Data Centre Campus in Johor.

KUALA LUMPUR: YTL Power International has announced the formation of YTL AI Cloud, a specialised provider of massive-scale graphic processing unit (GPU)-based accelerated computing.

YTL AI Cloud will deploy and manage one of the world’s most advanced supercomputers on Nvidia Grace Blackwell-powered DGX Cloud, an artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer for accelerating the development of generative AI.

In a statement yesterday, YTL said the YTL AI Supercomputer will be located in a 664-ha data centre facility in the YTL Green Data Centre Campus in Johor, powered by a renewable energy source from its on-site 500-megawatt solar power facility.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said YTL AI Cloud, the first for Malaysia, will accelerate Malaysia’s adoption of AI and spearhead the development of the country’s Sovereign Cloud.

“The collaboration with Nvidia is a testament to Malaysia’s attractiveness as a hub for digital investments,” he said.

Meanwhile, Investment, Trade and Industry Minister, Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said the AI Cloud will create high-value, high-income jobs for Malaysians.

“This marks a significant step forward in our mission to become a leading AI and data centre hub in the region,” he said.

He said the initiative not only brings Malaysia closer to achieving its goals under the New Industrial Master Plan 2030, but also demonstrates Malaysia’s capability and readiness to play a significant role in the global technology landscape.

It is to be noted that YTL will be among the first companies to adopt Nvidia GB200 NVL72 – a multi-node, liquid-cooled, rack-scale system with fifth-generation NVLink.

The supercomputer will be interconnected by Nvidia Quantum InfiniBand networking platform.

The platform acts as a single GPU with 1.4 exaflops of AI performance and 30 terabytes of fast memory, and is designed for the most compute-intensive workloads.

The YTL AI Supercomputer will surpass more than 300 exaflops of AI compute, making it one of the fastest supercomputers in the world.

“There is no doubt that AI is a critical tool that will power the global digital economy,” said Digital Minister, Gobind Singh Deo.

He said having one of the most powerful Nvidia cloud computing infrastructures in Malaysia is a game changer and will spark innovation and development of solutions which are instrumental to the success of the Malaysia Digital Economy blueprint.

“Nvidia is working with YTL AI Cloud to bring a world-class accelerated computing platform to South-East Asia – helping drive scientific research, innovation and economic growth across the region,” founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia, Jensen Huang said.

The latest supercomputer marks one of the first deployments of the Nvidia GB200 Grace Blackwell Superchip on DGX Cloud, supporting the growth of accelerated computing in the Asia-Pacific region.

Meanwhile, YTL Power International managing director, Datuk Seri Yeoh Seok Hong said the group is proud to be working with Nvidia and the Malaysian government to bring powerful AI cloud computing to Malaysia.

“We are excited to bring this supercomputing power to the Asia-Pacific region, which has been home to many of the fastest-growing cloud regions and many of the most innovative users of AI in the world,” he said. — Bernama

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