The Chang’e-6 blasted off from a space centre in early May, and successfully landed on a crater close to the Moon’s south pole a few weeks later. Its mission lasted 53 days.

The probe will be sent to Beijing and samples will be retrieved there, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

This is China’s sixth mission to the Moon, and its second to the far side. The probe is named after the moon goddess Chang’e in Chinese mythology.

The probe used a drill and a robotic arm to scoop up soil and rocks, took some photos of the surface and planted a Chinese flag.

Catherine Heymans, the astronomer royal for Scotland, hoped the samples would help test theories about how the Moon was formed 4.5 billion years ago and whether it resulted from a collision with a very early version of the Earth.

“it’s incredibly exciting to see this landing successfully,” she told the BBC. “The geological activity on the Moon is very different on the near side and the far side and it’s been a big puzzle why we see those differences.”

She hoped the samples brought back would help researchers understand the composition of the centre of the Moon.

“Is it very similar to the Earth? Can that confirm our theory that the Earth and the Moon were once the same thing?”

Beijing has poured huge resources into its space programme over the past decade in an effort to catch up with both the US and Russia.

It aims to send a crewed mission to the Moon by 2030 and plans to eventually build a base on the lunar south pole.

The US also plans to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2026 with its Artemis 3 mission.

Analysts believe the next space race will not just be about putting people on the Moon – it will be about who is able to stake their claim and control lunar resources.

Additional reporting by Joel Guinto