Among the international payloads onboard is the laser retroreflector INRRI (INstrument for landing-Roving laser Retroreflector Investigations), a joint development by the National Laboratory of Frascati, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN-LNF) and the Planetary Mapping and Remote Sensing Laboratory from the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Mounted on the top panel of the Chang’e-6 lander, and successfully deployed on the far side of the moon, INRRI, which functions as a mirror for laser beams, aims to be the first laser retroreflector absolute control point on the moon’s far side. It will provide support for high-precision positioning on the lunar surface and the orbit determination and navigation of lunar orbiters.

At 6:23 a.m. on June 2, the Chang'e-6 lander successfully landed in the pre-selected landing area of the South Pole-Aitken Basin on the far side of the Moon and began the drilling sample and surface extraction with drilling tools and robotic arms. The lunar penetrating radar effective payload developed by the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) undertakes the task of subsurface detection before drilling and sampling. The lunar penetrating radar serves as an x-ray machine of geologists, allowing scientists to study the layer structure information beneath the Moon’s surface before sampling.

BEIJING, April 23 (Xinhua) -- A team of Chinese scientists are using artificial intelligence (AI) tech to accurately map out carbon emissions in big cities. This is an attempt that may help urban managers make more evidence-based plans in fighting global warming.

Chinese scientists have turned to science satellite SDGSAT-1 as a tool to manage the impact of modern illumination sources on the urban environment, according to a recent study. The study, conducted by scientists from the Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, was published recently in the International Journal of Digital Earth.

Significant changes in global land cover have occurred from 1985 to 2020, with both forest destruction and restoration accelerating, and impermeable surfaces continuing to expand, according to an annual report on global ecological and environmental remote sensing monitoring released by the National Remote Sensing Center of China on Friday.

BEIJING, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) -- The global production of bulk grain and oil crops saw a year-on-year increase in 2023, according to the 2023 annual report on the remote-sensing monitoring of the global ecological environment, which was made public on Friday.