Polytechnic University on Friday said equipment it developed has enabled China’s Chang’e-6 space mission to sample soil from the far side of the moon – the first such feat in history.

Professor Yung Kai-leung, director of the university's Research Centre for Deep Space Explorations, said their sampling system, unlike those used by other countries, is fully automated, which means it can prevent contamination and is more efficient.

The device consists of two shovel and claw-shaped samplers, two monitoring cameras, as well as a packaging system, Yung said.

The automated process involves the cameras selecting an area to sample, before the samplers collect the soil and put it into a container.

The academic said it took his team at the university six years to design and manufacture the sampling system, as it is no easy task operating on the far side of the moon.

“We still experience communication problems. So we had to modify the method of regolith acquisition so that we can speed up the acquisition, sealing and packing. We had to upgrade our design,” he said.

Yung said he believes that more than 1.75 kg of lunar soil was collected during an operation on Monday, and the material will be of scientific significance.

“The lunar regolith, especially those on the far side, are subject to a rigorous environment of space radiation, meteorites and things like that. So they contain a lot of useful elements that we may not be able to find on Earth.”

He said the samples may also help scientists better understand the formation of the moon.

The Chang’e 6-spacecraft is expected to return to Earth on June 25.